Featured artists:
Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris, Ludovic Tézier, Francesco Ivan Ciampa
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