In Act I, when Violetta, a charming courtesan, is throwing a lavish party, a soprano must summon flights of coloratura brilliance and coquettish sparkle. Oropesa emerged on Wednesday as a major Violetta. Oropesa is following Aleksandra Kurzak’s riveting account at the Met last month, when Michael Mayer’s 2018 production returned.īut combining exquisite singing, youthful allure, affecting vulnerability and, by the end, bleak intensity, Ms. It can be hard for a soprano to stand out among the enormous horde of singers who have taken on this touchstone role. This fall she won rave reviews and ardent ovations in the title role of Massenet’s “Manon.” And on Wednesday, she sang her first performance with the company as Violetta in Verdi’s “La Traviata.” Italian conductor Antonella Manacorda conducts Verdi’s sublime score, which offers a wonderful showcase for the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and Royal Opera Chorus.At 36, the soprano Lisette Oropesa is in the midst of what should be a star-making season at the Metropolitan Opera. Richard Eyre’s engrossing naturalistic production features stunning designs by his regular collaborator Bob Crowley. The opera tells the profoundly moving story of a courtesan prepared to sacrifice everything for love, and contains some of Verdi’s most beautiful arias and duets. One of the greatest of all operas, La traviata is based on the novel and play La Dame aux camellias by Alexandre Dumas fils, inspired in turn by the life and death of the real Parisian courtesan, Marie Duplessis.

Soprano Ermonela Jaho stars as Violetta Valery, with Charles Castronovo as her lover Alfredo and Placido Domingo as Alfredo’s stern father Giorgio Germont, in The Royal Opera’s much-loved production of Verdi’s La traviata.

The metropolitan opera la traviata