LA TRAVIATA – VFJO / GAFFIGAN / ACADEMY ATELIER LYRIQUE
Throughout the Verbier Festival, the singers of the Academy's Atelier Lyrique — selected through an exceptionally rigorous process — receive intensive coaching. They present the fruit of their work at the Festival’s closing event: a staged performance of a major opera from the repertoire. This year, it will be Verdi’s legendary La Traviata, conducted by James Gaffigan, Music Director of the superb Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra.
Programme
GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813-1901)
La Traviata
Surtitles in English and French
Artist(s)
James Gaffigan conducts Stravinsky: The Rake’s Progress (VFJO)
It is one of the most famous misunderstandings in the history of music: far removed from the heroic tales in vogue in nineteenth-century opera, La Traviata was a resounding failure at its premiere in 1853. Nearly two centuries later, we salute the visionary genius of the man who transposed the action of operas from the battlefield to the drawing room, from the knight to the courtesan, from the epic to the intimate. Musically, in the words of Renée Fleming, “there is no more perfect role in the entire soprano repertoire than that of Violetta”. A must-see for all rising stars in the world of opera, the role may also provide an opportunity to discover the new Maria Callas among the Verbier Academy Opera’s young talent.
To support them, a seasoned opera conductor will take the helm of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra: James Gaffigan, who is well known to Swiss audiences as the conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, will know better than anyone how to accompany these new voices, which include some of the greats of tomorrow.
