Astana Opera to stage Verdi's La Traviata directed by Brockhaus

The most personal opera of a famous Italian operatic composer Giuseppe Verdi La Traviata directed by Henning Brockhaus will be staged at Kazakhstan's Astana Opera on March 4 and 26, Tengrinews reports. It premiered at Astana Opera on October 22, 2014 and had a great success.

Verdi’s opera in three acts is based on La dame aux Camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel written by Alexandre Dumas.

Usually regarded as Verdi's most sentimental opera, La Traviata emerges as a forceful criticism of bourgeois hypocrisy. 

The main character of Verdi’s masterpiece, Violetta, is a courtesan rejected by the society, whose nobility and soul beauty is shown to be morally superior to the bourgeois, particularly Giorgio Germont, a father of her lover Alfredo, who persuades Violetta to leave his son as her relationship with Alfredo threatens his daughter’s engagement because of Violetta’s reputation.

On the one hand, Violetta becomes a victim of conventional morality and at the same time,  she appears as a heroine morally superior to her detractors.

La Traviata was first performed on March 6, 1853 at the La Fenice opera house in Venice, but the premier failed. Compassion for the victims of social inequality, harsh criticism of borgeouis hypocrisy, demonstration of modern life on the opera stage were among the reasons, which led to the failure. 

But Verdi did not stop believing in the success of his creation. A year later, La Traviata was performed at the San Benedetto Theater in Venice, but this time it had a contemporary setting of the 18th century. This production acclaimed a great success, and consequently, began touring the theaters all around the world.

Today, the opera has become immensely popular and is a staple of the standard operatic repertoire.

The part of Violetta became favorite for all divas of all generations: Adelina Patti (1843-1919), Roza Ponselle (1897-1981), Renata Tebaldi (1922-2004), Maria Callas (1923-1977), Joan Satherland (1926-2010), Montserrat Caballé, Teresa Stratas, as well as the stars of Kazakh operatic art: Roza Zhamanova (1928-2013), Bibigul Tulegenova, Nurzhamal Usenbayeva, Maira Mukhamedkyzy, Zhannat Baktay, Zhamilya Baspakova and others.

La Traviata directed by Henning Brockhaus dispels the usual perception of Verdi’s opera as a pure melodrama and brings the audience to the original idea of Verdi. 

An enormous mirror, which enables the audience to look at the scene from different angles is a part of the director's masterpiece. In the last scene, it does not project anything, but the black background of the stage, thus emphasizing the director's idea of dispelling the illusion. When Violetta dies the mirror's reflection changes its angle, and the spectators begin to see themselves in the mirror, thus becoming participants of the performance.

In this production, each of the female choir members will demonstrate different personal traits of Violetta with each of her mirror projections having a unique style and temper. At the same time, each member of the male choir will present various facets of Alfredo.

Astana Opera cast will show the brilliance of Verdi’s opera as well as the breadth and depth of the characters: Violetta – Zhamilya Zharkimbayeva, Alfiya Karimova, Aizada Kaponova, Alfredo Germont – Meir Bayneshov, Giorgio Germont – Talgat Mussabayev. Maestro Abzal Mukhitdinov will be conducting the orchestra.

Italian Giancarlo Colis worked to create the costumes, while Joseph Svoboda was engaged in creating the soft and compact set design as well as the luxurious salon atmosphere.

The performance will start at 7 p.m. at Astana Opera located on Kunayev street, at the crossing with Turan avenue. It has two intermissions.

The tickets can be purchased online via biletiastana.kz and the official website of the theater. The price starts at 500 tenge ($2.7).

By Assel Satubaldina