La Traviata / Verdi (staged opera)

SATURDAY, JULY 4 / 9:30 PM

Postponed to the next day in case of bad weather

Roman Theater

Opera in 3 acts and a prologue

Music by Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)

Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the novel La Dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils

Premiere: Teatro La Fenice, Venice, March 6, 1853

Conductor Paolo Arrivabeni

Études musicales Kira Parfeevets

Chef de choeur Benedict Kearns

Violetta Valéry Nadine Sierra

Flora Bervoix Éléonore Pancrazi

Annina Valentine Lemercier

Alfredo Germont Javier Camarena

Giorgio Germont Ludovic Tézier

Gastone Christophe Berry

Le Baron Douphol NN

Le Marquis d'Obigny Yoann Dubruque

Le Docteur Grenvil Nicolas Cavallier

Giuseppe Vincenzo di Nocera

Choeur de l'Opéra national de Lyon

Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille

Censorship, whether official or moral, was the most constant companion in Giuseppe Verdi’s life. It generally targeted the political themes addressed by the composer from Busseto: the onstage assassination of a king (Un ballo in maschera), the reprehensible behavior of another monarch (Francis I, transformed into the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto), or the countless masked calls for revolt against Austria scattered throughout his early works. But it never struck him as personally as it did with La traviata (The Fallen Woman): at the time, Verdi was sharing his life with Giuseppina Strepponi, the creator of Abigaille (Nabucco), a single mother with a troubled past, and he had to endure the disapproval and rejection of the conservative bourgeoisie.

It is hard not to draw parallels with the story of this Parisian courtesan, who renounces love so as not to damage the reputation of her “in-laws.” Stricken with tuberculosis, she dies in utter poverty, bringing the tragic dimension demanded by 19th-century melodrama. A complete failure on the night of its premiere, La traviata is now universally recognized as one of the masterpieces of operatic art and, above all, the most beautiful musical narration of the foundation of Romanticism: the sacrifice made for love.

Presented in Orange with a dazzling cast, this Traviata will feature the sublime Nadine Sierra in the title role, alongside Javier Camarena and Ludovic Tézier, under the baton of Paolo Arrivabeni.