Sentimental Work: Fabio Biondi on Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette

I first came across Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette around 20 years ago. By that time I had begun to be interested in 19th-century Italian opera; in 2001 I’d prepared a version of Bellini’s Norma for Europa Galante to perform at the Festival Verdi in Parma, and it went on from there. As a violinist I was also interested in the life of Paganini, who had an interest in opera himself; he conducted Rossini’s Matilde di Shabran in Rome and was a great friend of Berlioz…