Royal Opera House’s La traviata 2024 @Tristram Kenton
La traviata may have inspired countless works – including Moulin Rouge – but the opera itself is actually based on a real-life Violetta, who was a courtesan named Marie Duplessis, born in Normandy, France in 1824.
For the 30th anniversary of Richard Eyre’s production of La traviata, the second night had an unusual number of empty seats in the auditorium. This wonderful production, with particular reference to the gambling scene in Act II, has been a remarkable success for the Royal Opera House, but perhaps there have now been too many revivals of this production - which is beginning to look somewhat worn and tired. The revival by Dan Dooner was rather understated and didn’t have quite the pizzazz on stage that is normally associated with this wonderful opera.
However, the audience was treated to a high-quality musical evening. The Italian tenor singing Alfredo Germont, Francesco Demuro had a warm plush and sensual tenor tone. He is not a vocally weighty tenor, but his Act III duet ‘Parigi, o cara’ was beautifully rendered and wholly engaging.
The Romanian baritone George Petean was a dramatic and superb Giorgio Germont. He always suited his role and his rebuke to his son Alfredo was full of vocally thrilling intensity.
Five Jette Parker singers from the Royal Opera House’s Artists Programme were all outstanding in their roles. It was left to our Violetta singing her favourite role, the Russian soprano Aida Garifullina, to lift the evening to an altogether higher level with a remarkably gifted performance. Hers is a fresh sounding, at times intense, vocal output of great textural detail and captivating in all elements of her role.
The orchestra and chorus were outstanding under the baton of the conductor Alexander Joel. His was a careful but pacey reading of the score in which he clearly cared for his singers.
Bearing in mind the number of Traviata’s at the ROH in recent years, the musical quality of this evening was a testament to Verdi’s announcement that he had written a new opera which was “a subject for our times”. It still is!
