La traviata Tickets

Oslo Opera House, Oslo, Norway

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Available Dates: 29 Dec 2024 - 17 Jan 2025 (7 events)

Important Info

Type: Opera

City: Oslo, Norway

Duration: 3h with 1 interval

Intervals: 1

Sung in: Italian

Titles in: Norwegian,English

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

Can I choose my seats?

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Cast

Performers

Choose the date to see the peformers

Creators

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

Author: Alexandre Dumas (fils)

Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave

Director: Rodula Gaitanou

Overview

The world’s most popular opera as a 1920s party. In a completely new and dazzling version, opera history’s most famous sex worker is back in Bjørvika. For 170 years, La Traviata has celebrated the ‘fallen woman’ – while also showing who she really is when the party ends.

Welcome to the roaring 20s!
Violetta Valéry lives in a world where there’s no such thing as too much sparkle, status and sensation. No one plays the role of working girl better than her.

But when Violetta meets the poet Alfredo, it is her first encounter with freedom and love.

Free or fallen?
We find ourselves in Paris in 1925 in the Golden Age of Art Deco. Director Rodula Gaitanou explores what is real and what is staged.

Giuseppe Verdi’s light violins are almost gasping for air. In contrast, we hear the voracious party music of the bordello, where Violetta Valéry triumphantly sings ‘Sempre Libera!’ – always free.

La Traviata is the third in Verdi’s La trilogia popolare – a hitlist that also includes Rigoletto and the Troubadour.

Based on a true story
The narrative is based on a true story and the novel The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas. In real life, Marie Duplessis was a famous courtesan in Parisian high society. The character Alfredo, Violetta’s lover, is based on Dumas’ own life story.

Verdi’s political opera was denounced, as many believed that it encouraged sexual promiscuity. The English doctor William Acton called the phenomenon Traviata-ism. The expression described the insight gained by the audience as they walked home from the opera – along Haymarket in London – and realised that Violetta could be found everywhere.

Her story has since been told over and over again, such as in Pretty Woman and Moulin Rouge! – as well as in the countless productions of Verdi’s opera.

History

Premiere of this production: 06 March 1853, Teatro La Fenice, Venice

La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La Dame aux camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas fils. The opera was originally titled Violetta, after the main character. It was first performed on 6 March 1853 at the La Fenice opera house in Venice.

Synopsis

Set in and around Paris in about 1850.

Act I

Violetta Valéry, a Parisian courtesan, greets the guests at her salon. Among them are Flora Bervoix, the Marchese D’Obigny, Baron Douphol and Gastone, who introduces Violetta to a new admirer of hers, Alfredo Germont. The young Germont, who has been admiring her from afar, joins her in a drinking song. An orchestra strikes up in an adjacent room, inviting the guests to dance. As the guests make their way to the ballroom, Violetta, who is suffering from consumption, feels faint; she therefore sends the guests on ahead and retires to her boudoir to recover. Alfredo enters and, realising that they are alone, admits his love for her. She replies that love means nothing to her. She
is, however, touched by the young man’s sincerity and promises to meet him the following day.
When the guests have departed, she asks herself whether Alfredo is the man she could love. Despite
the strains of Alfredo’s love song drifting in from outside, she decides she prefers her freedom.

Act II

scene 1
A few months later: Alfredo and Violetta have set up house together in the country, outside Paris. Alfredo says how happy they are, but when Violetta’s maid Annina lets on that Violetta has been selling her belongings to pay for the house, he hastens into town to raise the money himself. Violetta comes in search of him and discovers an invitation from her friend Flora to a soirée that very night. Violetta has no intention of returning to her former life, but she is forced to reconsider
on encountering Alfredo’s father. He is very taken with Violetta and her civilised manners but orders her to renounce Alfredo: his son’s scandalous liaison with Violetta is threatening his daughter’s forthcoming marriage. Violetta considers his demand unreasonable, but before long Germont succeeds in persuading her. Alone and desolate, Violetta sends a reply to Flora accepting her invitation and sits down to write a farewell letter to Alfredo. His return takes her by surprise, and she can barely restrain herself as she passionately reminds him how much she loves him before
rushing out. As the maid brings him Violetta’s farewell letter, Germont returns to console his son and reminds him of life in their family home in Provence. Alfredo spots Flora’s invitation and suspects that Violetta has left him for another man. In a rage, he decides to confront her at the soirée.

scene 2
At the soirée, Flora hears from the Marchese that Violetta and Alfredo have parted. Flora asks the guests to make way for a visiting troupe of performing gypsies. They are followed by matadors and a song about Piquillo and his sweetheart. Alfredo rushes in and delivers some bitter comments about love and gambling. Violetta appears on the arm of Baron Douphol, who challenges Alfredo to a game of cards and loses a small fortune to him. As the guests go in to supper, Violetta asks to have a word with Alfredo in private. She is afraid the Baron will be enraged by his loss and urges Alfredo to leave. Alfredo misunderstands her and orders her to admit she loves the Baron. Disappointed by Alfredo’s reaction, Violetta lies and confesses that yes, she does. Alfredo calls the other guests to gather round in order to denounce his former beloved in public and throws the money he has won at her feet. Germont, arriving at that very moment, expresses his disapproval of his son’s behaviour. The guests likewise rebuke Alfredo and Douphol challenges him to a duel.

Act III

Violetta’s bedroom, six months later. Dr Grenvil tells Annina that her mistress has not long to live –
the consumption has taken its toll. Alone, Violetta rereads a letter from Germont saying that the Baron was only slightly wounded in his duel with Alfredo, that Alfredo has heard the truth and is
coming to beg her pardon. But Violetta realises it is too late. It is carnival time in Paris and, the sounds of the revellers having passed, Annina rushes in to announce Alfredo. The lovers ecstatically plan to leave Paris. Germont enters with the doctor just as Violetta rises from her bed with the last of her strength. Feeling a sudden rush of life, she sways and falls dead at her lover’s feet.

Venue Info

Oslo Opera House - Oslo
Kirsten Flagstads Plass 1

The Oslo Opera House is the home of The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and the national opera theatre in Norway. The building is situated in the Bjørvika neighbourhood of central Oslo, at the head of the Oslofjord. It is operated by Statsbygg, the government agency which manages property for the Norwegian government. The structure contains 1,100 rooms in a total area of 38,500 m2 (414,000 sq ft). The main auditorium seats 1,364 and two other performance spaces can seat 200 and 400. The main stage is 16 m (52 ft) wide and 40 m (130 ft) deep. The angled exterior surfaces of the building are covered with marble from Carrara, Italy and white granite and make it appear to rise from the water. It is the largest cultural building constructed in Norway since Nidarosdomen was completed circa 1300.

In 1999, after a long national debate, the Norwegian legislature decided to construct a new opera house in the city. A design competition was held and, of the 350 entries received, the judges chose that of Snøhetta. Construction started in 2003 and was completed in 2007, ahead of schedule and 300 million NOK (~US$52 million) under its budget of 4.4 billion NOK (~US$760 million). The gala opening on 12 April 2008 was attended by His Majesty King Harald, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and President Tarja Halonen of Finland and other leaders. During the first year of operation, 1.3 million people passed through the building's doors.

The Opera House won the culture award at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona in October 2008 and the 2009 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture.

The roof of the building angles to ground level, creating a large plaza that invites pedestrians to walk up and enjoy the panoramic views of Oslo. While much of the building is covered in white granite and La Facciata, a white Italian carrara marble, the stage tower is clad in white aluminium, in a design by Løvaas & Wagle that evokes old weaving patterns.

The lobby is surrounded by 15 m (49 ft) tall windows with minimal framing and special glass that allows maximum views of the water. The roof is supported by thin angled columns also designed not to interfere with views.

Interior surfaces are covered in oak to bring warmth to spaces in contrast to the coolness of the white exterior. The main auditorium is a horseshoe shape and illuminated by an oval chandelier containing 5,800 handmade crystals. Seats include monitors for the electronic libretto system, allowing audiences to follow opera libretti in Norwegian and English in addition to the original language.

Several art projects were commissioned for the interior and exterior of the Opera House. The most notable is She Lies, a sculpture constructed of stainless steel and glass panels by Monica Bonvicini. It is permanently installed on a concrete platform in the fjord adjacent to Opera House and floats on the water moving in response to tides and wind to create an ever-changing face to viewers. The work was unveiled by Her Majesty Queen Sonja on 11 May 2010.

A perforated wall panel which covers roof supports in the lobby was designed by Olafur Eliasson. It features hexagonal opening and is illuminated from below and behind to create the illusion of melting ice. Other artists involved in the construction include Kristian Blystad, Jorunn Sannes and Kalle Grude, who designed the shape of the pavers on the forecourt and roof; Bodil Furu and Trine Lise Nedreaas, who created a film and video project; Marte Aas, Talleiv Taro Manum, Tom Sandberg, Gerd Tinglum and Nina Witoszek Fitzpatrick, who created the art book Site Seeing; and Linus Elmes and Ludvig Löfgren, who created the foundation stone.

The main stage curtain is the work of Pae White who designed it to look like crumpled aluminum foil. White scanned a crumpled piece of foil into a computer which translated the information to a loom that wove the curtain from wool, cotton and polyester to create a three-dimensional effect. The curtain was manufactured by the German-based theatrical equipment company Gerriets GmbH. The finished curtain measures 74 ft (23 m) wide and 36 ft (11 m) and weighs 1,100 lb (500 kg).