The music of Verdi's La Traviata is now playing at the Palau de les Arts
06.04.2010
Lorin Maazel takes over as musical director of the production that closes the 2009-2010 season
Valencia (03.03.10).- Stage director Henning Brockhaus is currently finalizing the last details of La Traviata at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, the opera with which the Valencian arts center will close the 2009-2010 season.
The innovative production by German Brockhaus with set design by Czech Josef Svoboda, known as "La Traviata of Mirrors", has garnered applause from audiences and critics on its tour of opera houses around the world.
A huge mirror dominates the stage, projecting images of the characters onto it, which, through the interplay of light, acquire an almost ethereal dimension. This ingenious design by Brockhaus offers moments of evocative visual beauty and places Verdi's work within an idealized, painterly framework.
Lorin Maazel takes over the musical direction of Giuseppe Verdi's most celebrated title, La Traviata, whose libretto by Francesco Maria Piave is based on the novel The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas.
Despite its resounding failure at Venice's La Fenice in 1853, the passage of time has placed the work of the brilliant Italian composer among the most frequently performed and most acclaimed operas. Many of its passages, such as the overture, the drinking song ("Libiamo ne lieti calici"), and arias like "Sempre Libera" and "Addio del passato," have become part of popular musical culture.
In the version that will premiere on April 10 at the Palau de les Arts, soprano Jibla Guerzmava brings to life the Parisian courtesan Violetta Valéry, whose love and subsequent sacrifice for the bourgeois Alfredo Germont, a role alternated between Vittorio Grigolo and Francesco Demuro, at the behest of the pressures of her father Giorgio Germont (Gabriele Viviani) lead her to a dramatic agony.
Jibla Guerzmava has forged a solid career in the Russian and Italian repertoires. Following her triumph at Covent Garden as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, she will make her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York next season with Les contes d'Hoffmann.
Vittorio Grigolo is one of the rising stars of the international operatic scene. After becoming the youngest Italian tenor to debut at La Scala in Milan, his presence has been sought after by the world's leading opera houses. The audience at the Palau de les Arts was captivated by his performance as Faust last season. The tenor from Arezzo has sung the role of Alfredo Germont with great success before such demanding audiences as La Fenice in Venice and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Among his upcoming engagements are his debut in Les contes d'Hoffmann in Zurich, and he will also open the next season at the Metropolitan Opera in New York with La Bohème. In December 2010, he will open the La Scala season in Milan with Lucia di Lammermoor under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. Vittorio Grigolo will also participate in a gala concert in Tel Aviv conducted by Zubin Mehta.
The Italian tenor Francesco Demuro will sing the role of Alfredo on April 24, 27, and 30. Demuro, who recently performed in La Traviata in Seattle, Santiago, and Dresden, is one of the leading tenors in the Verdi repertoire today.
Baritone Gabriele Viviani is well-known to audiences at the Palau de les Arts following his acclaimed performances in La Bohème, Faust, and Les Troyens. He has triumphed in La Traviata in Verona and Macerata. His upcoming performances include L'elisir d'amore at the Chicago Opera and La Scala in Milan, as well as La Bohème at Covent Garden in London.
The Valencian arts center has scheduled additional performances of La Traviata on April 13, 16, 18, 21, 24, 27, and 30. Tickets for all performances are sold out, except for the 5% reserved for sale on the day of the performance.
