Verdi: La Traviata

Diana Damrau’s primacy as an interpreter of Violetta Valéry in La traviata can be inferred from the names of theatres where she has performed Verdi’s most popular opera: the Metropolitan, New York; La Scala, Milan; London’s Royal Opera House; the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Zurich Opera. Paris’s Opéra Bastille joined that list of leading houses in June 2014, when the German soprano appeared in a new production by the film director Benoît Jacquot. Conducted by Francesco Ivan Ciampa, it is presented on this DVD release from Warner Classics, which joins a DVD of Verdi’s Rigoletto, with Damrau as Gilda, recorded in Dresden and released in 2010, and the recent CD release of the soprano’s spine-tingling interpretation of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, recorded live in Munich.

“[Damrau’s] voice is simply glorious, whether in cradled pianissimi or heroic outbursts... Her good-looking Alfredo, Francesco Demuro, has youthful passion and ringing tenor tone... As Germont père, Ludovic Tézier shows off his superb baritone.” (The Financial Times)

Francesco Ivan Ciampa – Conductor Benoît Jacquot – Stage Director
Francesco Demuro – Alfredo Germont
Anna Pennisi – Flora Bervoix
Fabio Previati – Barone Douphol
Nicolas Testé – Dr. Grenvil
Sylvain Chauvelot - Set Design
Christian Gasc - Costumes
André Diot - Lighting Design
Philippe Giraudeau - Choreographer