La Traviata, the last masterpiece staged by Zeffirelli, now at the 100th Verona opera festival

La Traviata, the last masterpiece staged by Zeffirelli, now at the 100th Verona opera festival

Quinto titolo del 100° Festival, La Traviata di Verdi torna nella spettacolare e classica produzione firmata da Zeffirelli nel 2019, suo testamento artistico Alla prima cast italiano con la protagonista Gilda Fiume e i verdiani Francesco Meli e Luca Salsi; grandi nomi per tutte le repliche, da Oropesa, Tézier, Grigolo, Sierra, fino ad Anna Netrebko per la sua ultima recita nel ruolo di Violetta Primi ballerini la coppia d’arte e di vita Nicoletta Manni e Timofeij Andrijashenko, Andrea Battistoni dirige i complessi artistici di Fondazione Arena

Parliamo di

La Traviata

Saturday 8th July, 9:00pm

La Traviata by Verdi, the fifth work at the 100th Festival, is back in the spectacular and classic production conceived by Zeffirelli in 2019, his artistic testament

At the premiere, an Italian cast with leading lady, Gilda Fiume and Verdi performers Francesco Meli and Luca Salsi; big names for all the remaining performances, from Oropesa, Tézier, Grigolo, and Sierra, to Anna Netrebko for her latest performance in the role of Violetta

Principal dancers, the couple - in art and life - Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko, while Andrea Battistoni directs the artistic ensembles of Fondazione Arena

Conceived as the summa of all the Traviatas created over a period of more than sixty years, from the meeting with Maria Callas through to the end, the production that inaugurated the 2019 Festival was also Franco Zeffirelli’s last, and he worked on it for a long time with his trusted collaborators in his later years but was unable to see the success and affection that immediately greeted his production. The Arena di Verona celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great Florentine maestro by offering three of his most significant productions: in addition to the restored Carmen, which marked Zeffirelli's triumphant debut in the Arena, Saturday 8th July, La Traviata, which was his last opera for the Amphitheatre, returns to the stage, with sumptuous costumes by the award-winning Maurizio Millenotti, lighting by Paolo Mazzon, and choreography by Giuseppe Picone, for the first of six evenings with top international artists.

The all-Italian cast of the premiere: soprano Gilda Fiume brings her Violetta, applauded on stages from Turin to Boston to Seoul, to the Arena alongside Francesco Meli (Alfredo) and Luca Salsi (Giorgio Germont), acclaimed performers of Verdi and favourites at the Arena. On the podium and making his season debut is the acclaimed maestro Andrea Battistoni, conducting the Fondazione Arena Orchestra and the Choir, instructed by Roberto Gabbiani.

Stars will also be in the following performances, with Lisette Oropesa, Nadine Sierra and Anna Netrebko (who will bid farewell to the role on the Festival's exceptional final evening conducted by Marco Armiliato) playing the lead, to tenors Vittorio Grigolo and Freddie De Tommaso, and baritones Simone Piazzola, Artur RuciÅsky and Ludovic Tézier.

The most popular performers and the best young people, to whom the Fondazione Arena has always paid attention, take to the huge Arena stage in supporting roles: Sofia Koberidze is the friend Flora, Francesca Maionchi and Yao Bohui the faithful Annina, Carlo Bosi and Matteo Mezzaro take turns as Viscount Gastone, Giorgi Manoshvili and Gabriele Sagona as Doctor Grenvil, Nicolò Ceriani is Baron Douphol, Roberto Accurso the Marchese d’Obigny; the cast is completed by Francesco Cuccia as Giuseppe and Stefano Rinaldi Miliani as Flora's Servant and Commissioner.

The Fondazione Arena Ballet coordinated by Gaetano Petrosino enlivens the second act celebration with two exceptional soloists for the first and last date: the principal dancers of the Teatro alla Scala, Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko, stars of a spectacular wedding proposal in a packed Arena just one year ago. In subsequent performances, Liudmila Konovalova and Davide Dato, principal dancers of the Vienna State Opera, both making their debut in the Amphitheatre, will also take turns in the role. After the premiere on Saturday 8th July, more performances will be on 14th and 27th July, 19th and 26th August, 9th September.

"The 100th Festival is an anthology of the best-loved productions of the last few years," says Cecilia Gasdia, General Manager of the Fondazione Arena di Verona, "and this Traviata is much loved by those who choose the Arena to discover the most spectacular dimension of opera in striking productions that respect the traditional iconography. As a soloist, I had the good fortune to meet Franco Zeffirelli forty years ago with this Verdi masterpiece, studied with him and Kleiber, and it was Traviata that I had the honour of commissioning from him for his last completed production, which is also a tribute to his 100th birthday and to his boundless love for opera, as can be seen in every detail.”

"170 years after its premiere, La Traviata is still the most performed opera in the world today," adds Stefano Trespidi, Deputy Artistic Director of the Fondazione Arena, "and what the public can find at the Arena di Verona, in Maestro Zeffirelli's interpretation, is perhaps the show par excellence, in a certain sense the Traviata of dreams. Contributing to this is certainly the cast, which from 8th July to 9th September will feature the world's best performers in these roles.”

Info: arena.it

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