Organization

Kostym designer

Tomasz Ossoliński

Gosia Baczyńska

Dramaturg

Piotr Gruszczyński

Video designer

Darek Blaszczyk Cokierek

Körledare

Körledare (+2)

Mirosław Janowski

Mezzosopran (+3)

Elzbieta Wroblewska

Flora Bervoix

Mezzosopran (+2)

Katarzyna Szymkowiak

Annina

Tenor (+1)

Mateusz Zajdel

Gastone

Baryton (+4)

Tomasz Rak

Il barone Douphol

Baryton (+2)

Paweł Trojak

Il marchese d'Obigny

Bas (+3)

Dariusz Machej

Il dottor Grenvil

Teatr Wielki - Opera Narodowa

Orchestra

Orchestra of the Polish National Opera

Chorus

Chorus of the Polish National Opera

Dirigent

Patrick Fournillier

Regissör

Mariusz Treliński

Scenograf

Scenograf (+1)

Boris Kudlička

Koreograf

Tomasz Jan Wygoda

Ljus designer

Ljus designer (+1)

Marc Heinz

Sopran (+2)

Adriana Ferfecka

Violetta Valéry

Sopran

Aleksandra Olczyk

Tenor (+2)

Piotr Buszewski

Alfredo Germont

Tenor

Tadeusz Szlenkier

Bas-baryton (+3)

Lukasz Goliński

Giorgio Germont

David Babayants

The directorial motto of this splendid take on La traviata could be a sentence taken from the farewell note left by Curt Cobain, the leader of Nirvana: ‘It’s better to burn out than to fade away’. Because Mariusz Treliński’s production of the Verdi opera is a tale of a star consumed by her own luminosity. He turns the operatic masterpiece into a portrayal of an artistic community.
Violetta Valery – sung by Aleksandra Kurzak on the opening night – is a widely adored revue artist. Her stage costume comprises a pitch black wig, corset, blue feather boa/coat, and stockings held up by garters. She does not lead the life of a luxurious courtesan as her literary model in The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas fils, yet she does live off her physical attractiveness and devotion of her fandom.  
Designed by Boris Kudlička, the set is positioned on a 50-meter high platform and keeps moving from the left wing to the right to the rhythm of the music, revealing scenes from the heroine’s life: a cabaret venue full of dance and colourful lights, wild parties in the company of her friends headlined by Alfredo Germont, who is deeply besotted with the beautiful celebrity. His love will cause an internal transformation of Violetta and the colourful ‘movie’ about her glamorous existence will morph into a story of spiritual growth. The evolution is accompanied by disappearing scenery: while Act 1 takes place in a dance-filled Parisian club, the final scenes unfold on a bare stage, where the heroine meets her death.   
In the 19th century the profession of courtesan stirred unwholesome emotions and bottled up desires, with the reactions’ intensity being proportionate to the perceived gravity of the sin and transgression of social rules. First Dumas and then Verdi both tried to divulge the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie, who officially condemned women living off prostitution and eagerly availed of their services behind closed doors. Their masterpieces, which can easily be classed as tear-jerkers, humanised the sinner.
Let us set the record straight on one point, though. The widely believed story of a great scandal created by the Dumas play is untrue: during the work’s 1852 Parisian world premiere the whole audience shed trees of sympathy for the poor heroine whom first quit her profession and then died of tuberculosis in the arms of her beloved before their eyes.

Also, the failed opening of Verdi’s La traviata at La Fenice in Venice in 1853 was not down to the general outrage but inappropriate casting, in particular assigning the title role to Fanny Salvini-Donatelli, whom the crowd thought was not appealing enough. A year later, after minor revisions to the score, La traviata was put on at San Benedetto, another Venetian theatre. The triumph it scored that night lasts to this day as the title is one of the most popular operas staged across the globe.   
A work’s greatness is measured by its contemporary relevance. What is it that attracts 21st-century audiences to La traviata, apart from the ravishing music? The social conventions have changed, the sin has lost its gravity, the old prejudices are gone. Still, La traviata is a mirror that reflects our world, where life goes on simultaneously in the material and virtual dimension, where we ‘sell’ our life in social media, and make our choices conditional on retailer-guided ‘advice’ offered by influencers. Today’s Violetta Valery could be a man or a person without a gender. The idea of breaking free from the surrounding razzmatazz and searching for meaning in life is as relevant as ever, and so are decadent attempts to escape death.

La Traviata, Verdi

Medverkande

Flora Bervoix

Annina

Gastone

Il barone Douphol

Il marchese d'Obigny

Il dottor Grenvil

Violetta Valéry

Alfredo Germont

Giorgio Germont

Besättning

Regissör

Dirigent

Scenograf

Kostym designer

Körledare

Ljus designer

Koreograf

Dramaturg

Video designer

Instrumentation

Producent

Producent

Ensemble

Orkester

Kör

Medproducent

Utvalda videoklipp

Foton

Angående

Kompositör

Librettist

Beskrivning

Produktionssynopsis