Zurich Opera House 23 December 2022 - La traviata | GoComGo.com

La traviata

Zurich Opera House, Zurich, Switzerland
All photos (7)
Friday 23 December 2022

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Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Zurich, Switzerland
Starts at: 19:00
Overview

In his interpretation of Traviata, director David Hermann elaborates on the sketch about the downfall of the noble courtesan, interpreting it as a portrait study of a modern-day high-class escort, ground down by the machinery of our competitive meritocracy.

Set in a cold, bleak landscape consisting of black leather seats and platforms, what is private is no longer distinguishable from what is public. In choosing such subject matter, shockingly realistic and critical for its time, Giuseppe Verdi was already aiming for a perspective that reflected our present day. David Hermann’s production does the same: it deals with our hedonistic desire for freedom and modern compulsion for self-optimization.

In this revival, Russian soprano Nadezhda Pavlova – who was awarded the Golden Mask, Russia’s highest theater prize, for her interpretation of Violetta at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow – will be heard for the first time in Zurich. At the podium of the Philharmonia Zürich is Francesco Ivan Ciampa, a proven specialist in Italian repertoire.

Beautiful, clever, and universally desired, but mortally ill, Violetta Valéry lives as a noble courtesan, existing in the thrill of the moment. She does not allow herself genuine feelings and believes that true love is but an illusion. Until, that is, she encounters Alfredo one day. That’s when he resolves to go far away from the hedonistic Parisian society she knows and start a new life with him. Her past catches up with her when Alfredo’s father Giorgio Germont demands the two separate, in an effort to save the family’s good name and rescue the impending marriage of Alfredo’s sister. Violetta leaves Alfredo, briefly returning to her old life. But she soon falls gravely ill. "Amore e morte" – Love and Death – was originally meant to be La traviata’s title, and it is between those two poles that Violetta’s tragic story takes place. The love she dreams of remains but a utopian fantasy; it can only fail in the face of society’s values. Only Verdi’s music, with its transcendent power, can point to a better, more humane life.

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.

Venue Info

Zurich Opera House - Zurich
Location   Sechseläutenplatz 1

Zürich Opera House is a main opera house in Zürich and Switzerland. Located at the Sechseläutenplatz, it has been the home of the Zürich Opera since 1891, and also houses the Bernhard-Theater Zürich. It is also home to the Zürich Ballet. The Opera House also holds concerts by its Philharmonia orchestra, matinees, Lieder evenings and events for children. The Zürich Opera Ball is organised every year in March, and is usually attended by prominent names.

The first permanent theatre, the Aktientheater, was built in 1834 and it became the focus of Richard Wagner’s activities during his period of exile from Germany.

The Aktientheater burnt down in 1890. The new Stadttheater Zürich (municipal theatre) was built by the Viennese architects Fellner & Helmer, who changed their previous design for the theatre in Wiesbaden only slightly. It was opened in 1891. It was the city's main performance space for drama, opera, and musical events until 1925, when it was renamed Opernhaus Zürich and a separate theatre for plays was built: The Bernhard Theater opened in 1941, in May 1981 the Esplanada building was demolished, and the present adjoint building opened on 27/28 December 1984 after three years of transition in the Kaufhaus building nearby Schanzengraben.

By the 1970s, the opera house was badly in need of major renovations; when some considered it not worth restoring, a new theatre was proposed for the site. However, between 1982 and 1984, rebuilding took place but not without huge local opposition which was expressed in street riots. The rebuilt theatre was inaugurated with Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the world première of Rudolf Kelterborn’s Chekhov opera Der Kirschgarten.

As restored, the theatre is an ornate building with a neo-classical façade of white and grey stone adorned with busts of Weber, Wagner, and Mozart. Additionally, busts of Schiller, Shakespeare, and Goethe are to be found. The auditorium is built in the neo-rococo style and seats approximately 1200 people. During the refurbishment, the issue of sightlines was not adequately addressed. As a result, the theatre has a high number of seats with a limited view, or no view, of the stage. This is unusual in international comparison, where sightlines in historic opera houses have been typically enhanced over time.

Corporate archives and historical library collections are held at the music department of the Predigerkirche Zürich.

The Zürich Opera House is also home of the International Opera Studio (in German: Internationales Opernstudio IOS) which is a educational program for young singers and pianists. The studio was created in 1961 and has renowned artists currently teaching such as Brigitte Fassbaender, Hedwig Fassbender, Andreas Homocki, Rosemary Joshua, Adrian Kelly, Fabio Luisi, Jetske Mijnssen, Ann Murray, Eytan Pessen or Edith Wiens.

Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Zurich, Switzerland
Starts at: 19:00
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