LA TRAVIATA
Giuseppe Verdi
Arena di Verona
2nd July (First night) 9:00 pm
5, 8, 12, 15, 22, 26, 30 July 9:00 pm
On 2nd July, at 9:00 pm the debut will be staged of the third opera on the program of the 94th edition of the Opera Festival:La Traviata, opera in three acts to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and music by Giuseppe Verdi.
The elegant production, which opened the 2011 Festival and was staged again two years later, is directed by Hugo de Ana with choreography by Leda Lojodice.For the 2016 Festival, the orchestra is conducted by Jader Bignamini (2, 5, 8, 12/7), on his debut at the Arena di Verona, who is alternating with Fabio Mastrangelo (15, 22, 26, 30/7).
Further performances:5, 8, 12, 15, 22, 26, 30 July 2016(9:00 pm)
The opera, performed for the first time on the Arena stage exactly 70 years ago, has been staged in 14 editions of the Festival, with a total of 104 performances.The opera is based on the novel La dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils, which tells the sad tale of the most famous of the courtesans in Paris in the day of Louis Phillipe, Alphonsine Plessis, who died of consumption in 1847 at the early age of 23.The book was such a great success that a play was based on the same title and staged in Paris in February 1852, precisely during Verdi’s stay in the French capital.The protagonist, called Marguerite Gautier in the novel, was renamed Violetta Valéry in Verdi’s work.
In fact, the composer had been commissioned by Venice’s Teatro La Fenice to write a new opera for the 1853 carnival and the new score was written in just forty days, while the libretto was entrusted to Francesco Maria Piave.
The Argentinean director Hugo de Ana moves the setting of his production forward by approximately forty years, setting the event in 1890 to maintain the sense of critical historical situations of the period in which the opera was conceived.The story of Violetta takes form in a sort of space of memories, a picture gallery dismantled and turned upside down, in which the empty frames emphasize the play on truth and on-stage pretence.This is the space in which spectators can grasp the various facets of the protagonist’s life:prostitution, money, the worldliness and superficiality of a world in decline, where she is reborn with the discovery of love until she breathes her last.
The Argentinean director stated that is was not easy to “adapt operas conceived to be performed indoors, not in dispersive spaces, which can be problematic for recreating intimate events”:this led to the idea of the enormous mobile frames, from which the mirrors were removed and positioned on the stage, in order to fill the ample spaces of the Arena.But they also symbolically mean luxury and at the same time give an idea of the decadence of the feelings and the corruption of the characters.In fact, Hugo de Ana stresses,“It must never be forgotten that, in the end, this opera has a high critical impact at social level, regarding the lives of certain people who live in a manner that is perhaps unconventional, rather superficial and over the top.Characters that can cross the barrier of time and even be topical, present-day”.
In addition, in the finale, there is no redemption a religious sense:“In the death of the protagonist, the only aspect that is religious in a Christian way is the acceptance, from a bourgeois absolutely free point of view.Verdi also lived in this way, if he married Giuseppina Strepponi after they had lived together for years.I do not belief that there is this sort of redemption of Violetta in a moral sense:the entire story and the subject would lose impact.Instead, I always want to consider it as a reflection of the character faced with death, which is based on the idea of a final farewell.”
Violetta is a profoundly human, profoundly feminine character, whose sensuality is also skilfully emphasized by the costumes chosen for this production.The director considered a very specific period, based on a painting seen at the Revoltella museum in Trieste, an Italian “Lady of the camellias” of the late 1800s, by an artist who was not at all well known, Eugenio Scomparini:“I looked at that painting many times... and it is precisely Violetta who is dying.I have always had the idea of using the image in a smaller theatre.So I set the story in 1890, a period in which, with the rebirth of the industrial world, the environment leaves deep signs on the features of the protagonist.My intention is to emphasize her interior fragility, but also to highlight the characteristics of the ideal woman, to give a greater visual strength to the use of clear expressions in the production.”This thus results in a Traviata closer to tradition, to Italy’s beautiful opera style.
In the cast, great leading singers alternate for the eight performances:Violetta Valéry will be performed by Nino Machaidze (2, 5, 8, 12/7) and Ekaterina Bakanova (15, 22, 26, 30/7); in the role of Alfredo Germont there will be Francesco Demuro (2, 5, 8, 12, 26, 30/7) and Cristian Ricci (15, 22/7). In the role of Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s father, Gabriele Viviani (2, 5, 8/7), Dalibor Jenis (12, 15, 22/7) and Artur Rucinski (26, 30/7).
Flora Bervoixwill be impersonated by Clarissa Leonardi, Annina byMadina Karbeli (2, 5, 8, 12/7) and Teona Dvali (15, 22, 26, 30/7). Gastone di Letorières will be performed by Paolo Antognetti, Baron Douphol by Alessio Verna, the Marquis d’Obigny by Romano Dal Zovo, Doctor Grenvil by Paolo Battaglia, Giuseppe by Cristiano Olivieri and the twin characters of the Servant/Commissioner by Victor Garcia Sierra.
The opera features the Arena di Verona Orchestra, Chorus, Dance Company and Technicians, along with mimes and extras.
A new feature of the 2016 Festival that has met with unanimous success with spectators is the introduction of two LED wall screens at the side of the stage, used for supertitles in Italian and English to ensure a better understanding of the opera.
Info
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OF THE 2016 ARENA DI VERONA OPERA FESTIVAL
Also reconfirmed for the 94th edition of the Opera Festival, the important collaboration with leading European banking group UniCredit, the Opera Festival’s Major Partnerfor over twenty years.
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For their special support, thanks also go to Official SponsorsIntimissimi and RMC, Automotive Partner Volkswagen Group Italia and Mobility Partner DB Bahn Italia.