{"id":66648,"date":"2013-06-28T18:33:05","date_gmt":"2013-06-28T16:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gbopera.it\/?p=66648"},"modified":"2017-02-09T14:59:03","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T13:59:03","slug":"la-traviata-at-the-arena-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/la-traviata-at-the-arena-2\/","title":{"rendered":"“La Traviata” at the Arena"},"content":{"rendered":"

Verona, Arena di Verona, Centenary Opera Festival\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u201cLA TRAVIATA\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>
\nOpera in three acts, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
\nComposer\u00a0Giuseppe Verdi\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>
\nVioletta Valery\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>LANA KOS
\nFlora Bervoix\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>SANJA ANASTASIA
\nAnnina\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>TEONA DVALI
\nAlfredo Germont\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0JOHN OSBORN
\nGiorgio Germont\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>ROBERTO FRONTALI
\nGastone di Letori\u00e8res\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>CARLO BOSI
\nBaron Douphol\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>NICOLO’ CERIANI
\nMarchese d’Obigny\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>PAOLO ORECCHIA
\nDoctor Grenvil\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>GIANLUCA BREDA
\nGiuseppe\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0ANTONIO FELTRACCO
\nservant\/commissioner\u00a0 <\/em>ANDREA CORTESE
\nOrchestra, chorus and ballet of the Arena di Verona
\nConductor\u00a0\u00a0Andrea Battistoni\u00a0<\/strong>
\nChorusmaster\u00a0\u00a0Armando Tasso\u00a0<\/strong>
\nDirector\/set designer\/costumes\/lighting\u00a0\u00a0Hugo de Ana\u00a0<\/strong>
\nChoreographer\u00a0\u00a0Leda Lojodice\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>
\nVerona, 22nd<\/sup>\u00a0June, 2013
\n<\/em>
\nA summer of centenaries in Verona.\u00a0 The third opera of the Arena Festival’s Centenary Season, Verdi’s\u00a0La Traviata<\/em>, at its 100th<\/sup>\u00a0performance in the Arena,<\/strong>\u00a0premiered on Saturday, in a revival of the\u00a0Hugo de Ana<\/strong>‘s 2011 production. De Ana’s work consistently relies on symbolic associations, and never more so than in this striking staging. Ransacked over-sized antique gilded picture frames, emptied and discarded, are strewn haphazardly over the raked stage and stone tiered steps. They remain the basic set throughout, exploiting and favouring the nature of the Arena’s spaces, form and atmosphere\u00a0 rather than trying to reproduce improbable bedrooms, salons or country gardens.\u00a0 The immense inclined central frame delimits the space in which the scenes are played out.
\nDe Ana’s\u00a0Traviata<\/em>\u00a0highlights the sense of emptiness, abandonment, decadence,and cynicism<\/strong>\u00a0to be found in the story rather than allow the usual more romantic vision to dominate. He immediately takes the musical cue from the opening eight bars of the prelude which, identical to those of the opening of the third act where Violetta lies dying are an omen of the final \u201cAddio del passato\u201d…or \u201ctutto fin\u00ec.\u201d As the prelude begins, men in top hats and frock coats resembling 19thcentury undertakers, slowly file around the stage bearing what looks like death notices, taking inventories; an ominous prefiguring of the end of the opera.\u00a0 In the second act, instead, with nonchalance, de Ana creates the bucolic atmosphere of relaxed informality, by simply placing two large Japanese parasols, a trunk and a flowered drape in the frame as backdrop, which billowed gently in the breeze on the opening night.\u00a0 His lighting, as always subtly reflects both the atmosphere and psychological state of the characters.
\nThe beauty of the costumes, inspired by a Scomparini painting on the subject, are once again an affirmation of de Ana’s<\/strong>\u00a0meticulous attention to detail. The colours in general are as austere and funereal as the scenery, except in the second act finale where the toreadors and dancers introduce garish tonalities of hot pink and canary yellow underlining a sense of vulgarity. The ballet itself was rather marginal, although it did add an effective grotesque comment to both the toreador scene and the baccanal in the last act.
\nWhile many of De Ana’s conceits are effective, some put the singers in an awkward situation.\u00a0 Instead of Violetta being \u201clibera\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0to focus on the vocal part at the end of \u201cSempre libera\u201d, she’s busy trying to harness herself to the picture-frame before it lifts her into the air.\u00a0 The corsetry she was left wearing at this point was also not very flattering.\u00a0 Alfredo too, in his cabaletta in the second act,\u00a0 \u201cquest’onta laver\u00f2\u201d, as he simultaneously tries to pack his suitcase while trying to don a waistcoat and jacket\u00a0 unfortunately detracted focus from\u00a0 the musical and vocal tension.\u00a0 And Alfredo playing with a tennis raquet and hitting the ball into the drape, didn’t seem particularly apt during \u201cDe’ miei bollenti spiriti\u201d, especially with an anxious audience following the trajectory of the ball as it rolled towards the pit.
\nA difficult opera to render orchestrally in the amphitheatre.<\/strong>\u00a0So many intimate moments expressed by a thread of sound are imperceptible.\u00a0 The young Veronese conductor,\u00a0Andrea Battistoni<\/strong>,\u00a0 opted for the impetuous, but notwithstanding his energetic gesture, there were still problems keeping the chorus and orchestra together. This could also have depended on the fact that the chorus was relegated to the extreme right and left down-stage wings, divided by the orchestra. However their singing, especially in ‘forte’ was overly exuberant and consequently their vocal control suffered. The off-stage orchestra in the first act was far too loud and actually drowned out the singers.\u00a0 The playing was very heavy and the orchestra resembled a band more than an orchestra one would dance to.
\nLana Kos<\/strong>\u00a0as Violetta has a lovely lyric voice, but not such as to command the sort of presence needed in such a demanding role in the context of the Arena, nor to face the dramatic weight of the\u00a0 powerful second act.\u00a0 The coloratura in the first act was done by impetus rather than precision, and in the lyric moments there was a tendency to swoop into the note or rely on portamenti as a means of expression.\u00a0\u00a0John Osborn<\/strong>\u00a0as Alfredo sang with a clear focused tone. He interpreted the role with attention to dynamic contrast, diction and phrasing which gave his performance notable expressivity.\u00a0\u00a0Roberto Frontali<\/strong>\u00a0was a solid and authoritative Germont.\u00a0 Sanja Anastasia<\/strong>\u00a0gave an ebullient performance as Flora.\u00a0 The singing of\u00a0Teola Dval<\/strong>i, as Annina was unintelligible. The other parts,\u00a0Carlo Bosi<\/strong>\u00a0as Gastone,\u00a0Nicol\u00f2 Ceriani<\/strong>\u00a0as the Baron,\u00a0Paolo Orecchia<\/strong>\u00a0as the Marchese,\u00a0Gianluca Breda<\/strong>\u00a0as the doctor,\u00a0Antonio Feltracco<\/strong>\u00a0as Giuseppe and\u00a0Andrea Cortese<\/strong>\u00a0as the servant\/commissioner were all secure, precise and appropriate in their individual roles. A good-size audience, although not capacity, showed their appreciation with repeated curtain calls and enthusiastic applause.\u00a0Photo Ennevi for Arena of Verona<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Verona, Arena di Verona, Centenary Opera Festival\u00a0 \u201cLA TRAVIATA\u201d\u00a0 Opera in three acts, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":54519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[945,155,9354,153,5215,1502,108,6019,145,1124],"class_list":["post-66648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senza-categoria","tag-andrea-battistoni","tag-arena-di-verona","tag-foreign-readers","tag-giuseppe-verdi","tag-hugo-de-ana","tag-john-osborn","tag-la-traviata","tag-lana-kos","tag-opera-lirica","tag-roberto-frontali"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89479,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66648\/revisions\/89479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}