Long before Gounod’s famous Faust, a 26-year-old French composer named Louise Bertin took on Goethe’s epic drama and created something entirely her own. Fausto, receiving its American premiere with Opera Neo, is an astonishingly rare work, seen only at its 1831 Paris premiere, its modern revival in Essen, Germany, and now here in San Diego. Bertin’s score is raw, visceral, and unfiltered, blending Mozartian classicism, Italian opera, German magic opera, and emerging French Romanticism into a strikingly eclectic yet deeply personal musical voice. The opera follows an aging and disillusioned scientist’s desperate bargain with the Devil to reclaim youth and pleasure, posing eternal questions about the value of knowledge and the price of love. Both bold and deeply human, Fausto invites audiences to rediscover a forgotten masterpiece and encounter a uniquely youthful female perspective on one of Western culture’s most enduring stories.

Sara Zerilli

Events

Past events

26 - 27 Jun, 2026

Fausto · Opera Neo

Future and recently performed repertoire

Catarina (cover) Ensemble in Fausto by Bertin

Opera Neo

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