Opera in three acts (1853)
New Production! After the extraordinary success of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia (presented this past March in Australia) comes a new opera-film collaboration between Opera di Roma and Rai Cultura.
Conceived by Maestro Daniele Gatti and director Mario Martone, it’s a sumptuous new take on Verdi’s masterpiece, based on a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, with costumes by Anna Biagiotti and cinematography by Pasquale Mari. “Without the audience in the theatre we continue to experiment with new theatrical forms” - Teatro dell’Opera di Roma superintendent, Carlo Fuortes.
Fast-rising soprano Lisette Oropesa stars as Violetta Valéry, a courtesan who lives for pleasure. When she meets Alfredo (Saimir Pirgu) it’s true love, but their happiness is cut short at this insistence of his father, Germont (Roberto Frontali). Verdi's sublime score contains some of his most inspired arias and duets, including Violetta's introspective 'Ah fors'è lui' and hedonistic 'Sempre libera', Violetta and Germont's poignant Act II encounter and Alfredo and Violetta's 'Parigi, o cara', in which they dream of a happy future.
The production was broadcast to a prime-time television audience in Italy in April 2021, setting a new Opera Roma record with 967,000 viewers tuning in for the premiere.