"Best of La Scala" Summer Opera Series: La Traviata

Based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas, La Traviata, one of Verdi's most celebrated works, had its premiere at the Teatro la Fenice in 1853.
In this love story-opera, courtesan Violetta Valery meets a new admirer, Alfredo Germont, who confesses his love. Trouble brews when Alfredo's father demands that she renounce his son since the scandal of Alfredo's affair with her has threatened his own daughter's engagement. Violetta resists but eventually agrees. Back in Paris, Alfredo denounces his former love cruelly, and months later, Violetta, deathly ill with tuberculosis, has only days to live. Alfredo becomes contrite as he learns the truth, but it may already be too late to ask her forgiveness.
This 2007 production at La Scala sees Angela Gheorghiu in her celebrated debut as Violetta. Praised by Bloomberg for having "mastered the role," Gheorghiu leads an all-star cast which includes Ramn Vargas and Roberto Frontali. With the brilliant conductor Lorin Maazel on the podium, La Traviata is directed by Liliana Cavani.