ROMEO & JULIET, SB SYMPHONY

William Shakespeare’s immortal tragedy Romeo and Juliet has inspired masterful scores by the likes of Berlioz, Prokofiev, and even Leonard Bernstein. Tchaikovsky’s Overture-Fantasy is perhaps the most emotionally resonant of them all. The Bard himself would doubtless approve of its remarkable economy and depth. Next up: Elmer Bernstein’s eclectic, post-Romantic Songs of Love and Loathing, which the Santa Barbara Symphony premiered in 1989. The season concludes in high style – with Antonín Dvorák’s euphoric Symphony No. 8.