New Production of Verdi's La Traviata Opens at the Met 12/31

The Metropolitan Opera will premiere a new production of Verdi's La Traviata on New Year's Eve, December 31. The modern-dress staging, directed by Willy Decker in his Met debut, opened at the Salzburg Festival in 2005 and caused a sensation. The Times of London review was one of many glowing critical notices: "This production is something special: a Traviata so dramatically intense...that no other contemporary contender can beat it."

Star soprano Marina Poplavskaya will make her house debut in the title role of Violetta. She has sung Violetta to great acclaim in Los Angeles and Amsterdam; the Los Angeles Times called her "a major sensation," praising her "mesmerizing" acting, her "ability to trap men without needing to try," and the "unsuspected volcanic power" and "coloratura spectacle" of her voice. As Elisabeth de Valois in the Met's new production of Don Carlo earlier this season, critics praised her ability to "project the agonies of the character with pathos, urgency and grace, look exquisite, and shade Verdi's arching lines with beguiling finesse" (Financial Times).

Conductor Gianandrea Noseda, whose Verdi conducting at the Met includes well-received performances of La Forza del Destino, Un Ballo in Maschera, and the 2009 new production premiere of Il Trovatore, will conduct his first Met Traviatas. The Wall Street Journal, reviewing the Trovatore premiere, said Noseda's "vividly exciting conducting kept this thriller constantly on the boil." Matthew Polenzani, "one of the Met's treasures...in the front ranks of a growing list of fine young tenors on the company roster" (Associated Press), will sing Alfredo, a role he has performed to critical and audience praise opposite the Violettas of Renée Fleming and Ruth Ann Swenson. Andrzej Dobber, whose Met Verdi credits include Amonasro and Stiffelio's Stankar, will sing Giorgio Germont, a role he has sung at the Met and at Los Angeles Opera opposite Poplavskaya's Violetta.
The production features set and costume design by Wolfgang Gussmann, lighting design by Hans Toelstede, and choreography by Athol Farmer; all three artists are making their Met debuts.

Live Broadcasts Around the World
La Traviata will be experienced by millions of people around the world this season on the radio and on the internet, through distribution platforms the Met has established with various media partners.
The December 31 opening performance will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS channel 78 and XM channel 79, as will the January 15, 19 and 26 performances.

The December 31 and January 26 performances will also be available via internet streaming at the Met's web site www.metopera.org. The January 15 matinee will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

 

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