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ROMEO & JULIET

APRIL 25, 2026 | 7:30 PM

SINGLE TICKETS ON SALE JUNE 9

What to wear? Be comfortable. Dress in a way that works for you. If you feel like dressing up, do it and you won’t be the only one, we promise. If you prefer to be more casual you will fit right in as well.

Beverages served prior to concert and during intermission. You can pre-order your beverage before the concert.


Mobile phones are allowed to be on but must be set to silent.


We welcome you to clap when you like what you hear.

VIS Orchestra

Prepare for an unforgettable season finale concert filled with poetry and passion. Featuring special guests, renowned Nigerian poet Titilope Sonuga and Calgary’s “People’s Poet Laureate,” Wakefield Brewster, this event brings their evocative words to life on the mainstage. Paired with the music of Lili Boulanger and Gabriela Smith, the evening culminates in a captivating fusion of spoken word and the emotional depth of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite No. 2. Experience the timeless tale of star-crossed lovers through Prokofiev’s powerful and dramatic compositions, which vividly capture the intensity, romance, and tragedy of Shakespeare’s classic story. Don’t miss this extraordinary blend of literary and musical artistry!

CONDUCTOR: Cosette Justo Valdés
GUEST ARTISTS: Titlope Sonuga . Wakefield Brewster ; poets

PROGRAMME

Lili BOULANGER: D’un Matin De Printemps

Gabriella SMITH: Tumblebird Contrails

S. PROKOFIEV: Romeo and Juliet, suite No. 2

ROMEO & JULIET

APRIL 25, 2026 | 7:30 PM

 

SINGLE TICKETS ON SALE JUNE 9

PRE-CONCERT TALK: 6:30 PM
CONCERT: 7:30 PM

Prepare for an unforgettable season finale concert filled with poetry and passion. Featuring special guests, renowned Nigerian poet Titilope Sonuga and Calgary’s “People’s Poet Laureate,” Wakefield Brewster, this event brings their evocative words to life on the mainstage. Paired with the music of Lili Boulanger and Gabriela Smith, the evening culminates in a captivating fusion of spoken word and the emotional depth of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite No. 2. Experience the timeless tale of star-crossed lovers through Prokofiev’s powerful and dramatic compositions, which vividly capture the intensity, romance, and tragedy of Shakespeare’s classic story. Don’t miss this extraordinary blend of literary and musical artistry!

CONDUCTOR: Cosette Justo Valdés
GUEST ARTISTS: Titlope Sonuga , Wakefield Brewster ; poets

PROGRAMME

Lili BOULANGER: D’un Matin De Printemps

Gabriella SMITH: Tumblebird Contrails

S. PROKOFIEV: Romeo and Juliet, suite No. 2

Titlope Sonuga poet

Wakefield Brewster poet

What to wear? Be comfortable. Dress in a way that works for you. If you feel like dressing up, do it and you won’t be the only one, we promise. If you prefer to be more casual you will fit right in as well.

Beverages served prior to concert and during intermission. You can pre-order your beverage before the concert.


Mobile phones are allowed to be on but must be set to silent.


We welcome you to clap when you like what you hear.

VIS Orchestra

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Titilope Sonuga
Poet

Titilope Sonuga is a Nigerian poet, playwright, and performer. Her poetry concert, Open, has shown to sold-out audiences worldwide. She has published three poetry collections and released three spoken word albums.

Sonuga has scripted campaigns for Google, UN Women, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and more. She was an ambassador for Intel’s She Will Connect program. Her plays include Sankofa, a libretto reimagining Igor Stravinski’s L’histoire du Soldat, which premiered in Toronto in 2024. She made history as the first poet to perform at a Nigerian presidential inauguration and served as the 9th Poet Laureate of the City of Edmonton.

Wakefield Brewster
Calgary Poet Laureate, 2022–2024

Wakefield Brewster, Wakefield Brewster stepped onto his first stage as a Poet and Spoken Word Artist, January 1999.He’s now known as one of Canada’s most powerful Professional Performance Poets. Wakefield became the sixth Poet Laureate of Calgary in 2022, first Black Poet Laureate of Calgary, ever. During National Poetry Month in April 2024, after a quarter-century of Professional Performance Poetry, Wakefield released his first written Poetry collection titled:WakeWord (FrontenacHouse)For more about Wakefield and his Lyrical Life, please visit: http://wakefieldbrewster.com

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (27 April [O.S. 15 April] 1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian Soviet composer, pianist and conductor. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous musical genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. His works include such widely heard pieces as the March from The Love for Three Oranges, the suite Lieutenant Kijé, the ballet Romeo and Juliet — from which “Dance of the Knights” is taken — and Peter and the Wolf. Of the established forms and genres in which he worked, he created – excluding juvenilia – seven completed operas, seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, a cello concerto, a symphony-concerto for cello and orchestra, and nine completed piano sonatas.

A graduate of the St Petersburg Conservatory, Prokofiev initially made his name as an iconoclastic composer-pianist, achieving notoriety with a series of ferociously dissonant and virtuosic works for his instrument, including his first two piano concertos. In 1915, Prokofiev made a decisive break from the standard composer-pianist category with his orchestral Scythian Suite, compiled from music originally composed for a ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballets Russes. Diaghilev commissioned three further ballets from Prokofiev—Chout, Le pas d’acier and The Prodigal Son—which at the time of their original production all caused a sensation among both critics and colleagues. Prokofiev’s greatest interest, however, was opera, and he composed several works in that genre, including The Gambler and The Fiery Angel.

 

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