LA TRAVIATA To Be Performed By Opera Company of Middlebury

The Opera Company of Middlebury’s 23rd season finale begins with a new production of La Traviata. 

OCM Founder and Artistic Director Douglas Anderson has previously directed La Traviata for the company in semi-staged form. This time, Anderson sets the opera in the 1920s. “Verdi set the opera in the 1700s, but Violetta has always seemed to me to be a very contemporary woman, taking control of her life and refusing to be hemmed in by social norms or the men surrounding her.”  

The 1920s inspired Anderson as a pivotal period in American history when women challenged social conventions. “They broke every taboo,” says Anderson, “wearing short skirts, cutting their hair, drinking and smoking in public. They wanted to shock the world out of its Victorian complacency.” 

Costume Designer Debby Anderson has worked closely with her husband Douglas to dress the singers in vibrant period gowns. “It’s a sexy, outrageous period. You get the feeling that the world is changing, that anything can happen.” Anderson believes the tragedy of La Traviata is not only due to Violetta’s illness. “It’s because the men in her life can’t begin to deal with this new woman. In her famous aria, she sings, Sempre libera – ‘I will always be free.’ The men in La Traviata make sure that doesn’t happen." 

For OCM’s Music Director, Maestro Filippo Ciabatti, preparing and conducting this iconic Verdi opera is thrilling. “La Traviata is one of the greatest operas ever written,” he explains. “It contains some of the most profound, moving, and heartfelt music ever composed and continues to reveal new depths each time you return to it. Living with this score is a lifelong project.” The OCM orchestra, led by concertmaster Brooke Quiggins-Saulnier, is composed of local musicians as well as professionals from around the region. 

The cast of La Traviata includes professionals from across the country and incorporates local singers as well as members of the Young Artist Program in comprimario roles. The cast includes: Avery Boettcher as Violetta Valéry, Jared Esguerra as Alfredo Germont,    Andrew Manea as Giorgio Germont, Nicholas Tocci as Baron Douphol, Matthew Soibelman as Doctor Grenvil, Alexandra Wiebe as Annina, Luisana Rivas as Flora Bervoix, Dylan Schang as Gastone de Letorières, Will Kim as Marquis d'Obigny, Cameron Steinmetz as Giuseppe, Nessa Rabin as Flora's servant and Neil Wacek as Messenger.