BY KAREN BOSSICK
Guiseppe Verdi’s beloved “La Traviata” will be screened on Saturday as part of the MET HD: Live opera season.
The screening will start at 11 a.m. at the Metropolitan Big Wood Cinemas in Hailey and run for three hours and seven minutes.
Tickets are $16; students are admitted free as part of the Sun Valley Opera’s Educational Outreach program.
“La Traviata” premiered in Venice in 1853, surviving a notoriously unsuccessful opening night to become one of the best-loved operas in history and the most-performed opera worldwide. And the role of the Violetta, the “fallen woman,” has become a pinnacle of the soprano repertoire.
Adapted from a novel by Alexandre Dumas, the story revolves around a famed courtesan named Violetta who abandons her former life when she falls in love with a young bourgeois from a provincial family who has long loved her from afar.
They move to a home in the country where they might live happily ever after if not for Alfredo’s father who demands they break off their relationship because of Violetta’s tawdry reputation.
Michael Mayer’s richly textured new production features a dazzling 19th century setting that changes with the seasons.
Soprano Diana Damrau plays the tragic heroine Violetta and tenor Juan Diego Florez will sing the role of Alfredo, Violetta’s hapless lover. Baritone Quinn Kelsey plays Alfredo’s father, who attempts to destroy their love.
The production will be conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin.