La Traviata
By Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Romance doesn’t come any more emotionally extravagant than in Guiseppe Verdi’s La Traviata.
The beautiful coquette and tastefully scandalous queen of the pleasure-seekers, Violette (Lorina Gore) lives a lavish party girl life-style in the 19th Century. Her home is the site for wonderful revelries, abundant food and wine and illicit relationships. Fabulous frocks and expensive champagne are a lifestyle that Violetta enjoys until the introduction of the handsome Alfredo Germont (Ho-Yoon Chung), who offers her an alternative relationship of intimacy and monogamous love in the country. You all know this tragic tale of selfless love and tragedy.
Our golden-voiced nightingale is able to seduce us into loving her with her liquid honey tones, no matter what the mood. Whether Violetta is frivolously flirting as a 19th century ‘It’ girl; more seriously deliberating over a potential life-changing decision; whether she is breaking our hearts as a selfless heroine or bringing us to tears with her dying words ‒ that voice has us swooning!
Opera Australia does us proud with this opulent production staged in Sydney Opera House. Set designer Michael Yeargan captures both the overwhelming indulgence of Violetta’s party-girl life-style and her bleak existence as a dying and increasingly impoverished woman who has given up everything for love.
Opera Australia Chorus and Opera Australia Orchestra provide the perfect soundscape.
Sydney Opera House
Until 1 April