Soprano Avery Boettcher will be weaving together several different versions of William Shakespeare’s Juliet to create her own interpretation of one of the most famous tragic heroines of all time.

Boettcher will be the guest soloist of Youngstown Symphony Orchestra’s “Shakespeare in Love” concert at Stambaugh Auditorium.

She will sing arias from Charles Gounod’s opera “Romeo et Juliette” and Vincenzo Bellini’s “Capuleti e i Montecchi” as well as “Somewhere” from the musical “West Side Story.”

During a telephone interview, Boettcher described how she was trying to create a unified character from the “patchwork” of songs.

“Each piece is Juliet, but it’s a different version, and it’s a slightly different personality, just based on the composer’s lens,” she said. “That’s not a criticism, it’s just an observation. I’m just trying to bring the core of who I see Juliet as from start to finish in the play and trying to use the music to overlay on that character so that I, as the performer, show up as the same character even though the pieces are from different works.”

The concert, led by guest conductor Erik Ochsner, also includes music by Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky (Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture), Frederick Delius (A Village Romeo and Juliet: The Walk to Paradise) and a post-intermission performance of selections from Sergei Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

Boettcher, who has performed with opera companies and as a soloist with symphony orchestras throughout the United States, originally was hired for this concert when it was supposed to be conducted by Sergey Bogza, and they had worked together on a similar program in Panama City, Florida.

After Bogza resigned as YSO’s music director and conductor, Boettcher was asked if she wanted to continue with Ochsner, who has led the Youngstown orchestra more than any other guest conductor since the death of Randall Craig Fleischer in 2020.

“Kelly (Sullivan, artistic services manager for the orchestra) asked if I wanted to stay on the concert, and I was like, ‘Absolutely.’ I love the opportunity to connect with new companies.”

However, the concert changed significantly from what she had done previously with Bogza.

“When Erik came on, he was like, ‘I’m kind of confused by the repertoire if the theme of the concert is Romeo and Juliet.’ I was singing one of Juliet’s arias, and then the rest was kind of love-themed in general but not really related to Romeo and Juliet. So we were like, ‘Let’s go back to the drawing board,’ and we made the choice to revamp it.”

Keeping the focus on the two young lovers was made easier because so many renowned composers have drawn inspiration from Shakespeare’s original work.

“I hesitate to use the word, because it gets thrown around a lot, but it is an iconic love story and has been for such a long time,” Boettcher said. “I feel like it’s a safe assumption to say that everyone has felt, whether it’s as a teenager or as a full-grown adult, the pain of love. Even if it’s not like someone has literally lived out the plot of ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ it’s still something that we can identify with. I think audience members love to have their hearts broken, being pulled out of everyday life to see something tragic in every sense of the word.

“That’s why we need the arts, and that’s why we go see movies or watch TV series, to feel something outside of our own lives. I think ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ in particular, just pulls at people’s heartstrings, because There’s something so pure and so beautiful and so profoundly sad.”

If you go …

WHAT: “Shakespeare in Love” — Youngstown Symphony Orchestra with Erik Ochsner, guest conductor, and Avery Boettcher, soprano

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Stambaugh Auditorium, 1000 Fifth Ave., Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Tickets range from $20 to $60 and are available online at experienceyourarts.org and by calling 330-259-9651.