Yale Opera to perform La Traviata

The Yale School of Music Opera Program will present Giuseppe Verdi’s passionate love story, “La Traviata,” as its major production of the year. The opera will be performed at the Shubert Theater in New Haven on Friday, February 28 and Saturday, March 1 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, March 2 at 2 p.m. Sung in Italian with supertitles, the performance will be fully staged and costumed and accompanied by the Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale. Ticket information will follow later.

Violetta is a “a soprano’s dream role, demanding a full range of emotions – from intense love for life to utter heartbreak,” says John Baril, coordinator of the Opera Program at Yale. Divas Maria Callas, Rosa Ponselle, and Joan Sutherland have set their stamp on the part, and soon, Julianne Borg and Lori Trustman will hope to do the same.

“La Traviata is difficult to cast, particularly in the case of young singers,” says Doris Yarick-Cross, professor of voice and artistic director of Yale Opera. “We chose it because, as it happens, we have the resources.”

Yale Opera Program’s 16 students pursue an intensive two-year program within the School of Music, working closely with opera coaches and voice teachers. Each student accepted to the program is assured a major role in the fall production of “Opera Scenes” and, whenever feasible, in the Spring Semester full-length operas. The students also perform with companies as diverse as the Hartford Symphony and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. In December, Yale Opera will provide the cast for the Waterbury Symphony’s production of “Hansel and Gretel.”

“Yale Opera,” explains Robert Blocker, dean of the Yale School of Music, “is New Haven’s only locally produced opera company, and we are pleased to serve the community with talents that can offer such a moving and dramatic production as La Traviata.”

Yale Opera will present Gioacchino Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” on April 25 and 26 in Sprague Memorial Hall.