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State Opera's 'La Traviata'.
Verdi's popular opera 'La Traviata' is the ideal follow-up to
State Opera's sold-out performances of Puccini's 'La Boheme'.
'La Traviata' remains one of the most popular operas in the
Italian canon and should rank highly in the ABC's current quest
to find out Australia's most popular operatic moments.
In a production originally designed by the acclaimed Elijah Moshinsky, but overhauled by Richard Jones, Alexandre Dumas' famous tale (La Dame aux Camellias) has been moved forward from its 1850s setting to the fin de siecle period of the 1890s - following on from the ideas presented by the legendary Visconti La Scala production that was mounted in the 1950s around Maria Callas.
The opera is one of the most successful composed by Giuseppe Verdi in the realistic or verisimo style and according to the State Opera's musical director Graham Abbott, the reason as to why the opera remains so popular is due in part to the excellent literary pedigree that Dumas' original setting provides. Of course for many twentieth century and contemporary audiences, their first acquaintanceship with the plot comes via Garbo's famous film version of the tale - 'Camille'. According to Abbott, "the reason the opera holds up so well for audiences is due to its strengths as drama. It's based on a good play that deals with touching issues.
"Musically the work is approachable to the masses and yet it remains so harmonically inventive, and at the same time, Verdi adds a realism to opera that is new. Even the plot surrounding the bringing together of a courtesan (Violetta) with the socially superior Alfredo provides something new, and the sets in this production add a suitably claustrophobic touch which is highly appropriate in a tale concerning a consumptive". Of course the Brindisi (the drinking song) and Violetta's virtuosic aria (Sempre libera) - both from Act One of the opera - have taken on lives of their own - particularly Violetta's aria since its ingenious use in Baz Luhrmann's pop culture touchstone 'Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert'.
According to Abbott, even though it was Callas who reinvented 'Traviata' due to her unique acting skills in her legendary performances in the 1950s, it is Dame Joan Sutherland who has created the benchmark for Australian audiences via her two recordings of the work. Joan Carden, Judith Henley and Ghillian Sullivan have also added their stamp to the history of local and Australian productions. And that which makes this new State Opera production noteworthy lies in the choice of casting Australian singers who have gone on to make great European careers. This idea follows on from the similar casting approach taken in last year's all Australian premiere of Wagner's 'Der Ring Der Nibelungen'.
Abbott feels that things are going very well indeed with the rehearsals. "We've got three main vocalists who are all Australians. Kate Ladner is someone I studied with at the Elder Con. back in the 1980s. She has gone on to produce marvelous things both here and in Europe and she is, to my mind, an ideal Violetta. Aldo Del Toro similarly, is an ideal Alfredo". 'La Traviata' is Verdi's ideal example of verisimo opera: it's true drama with music; it deals with issues that the audience can identify with and a strong production can certainly trigger the audience emotionally to react to this touching plot and according to Abbott this is one of the reasons as to why the initial production of the work flopped. "It was just too real and dealt so sympathetically with issues that meant something not only to Verdi himself, but also to the opera's ever increasing audiences."
Brett Allen-Bayes
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The State Opera of South Australia's new production of Verdi's La Traviata runs for four performances from Sat 22 Oct at the Festival Theatre.
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