This Week: Knoxville Opera Returns To Verdi’s ‘La Traviata’

Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata
Knoxville Opera
Friday, February 16, 2024, 7:30 PM
Sunday, February 18, 2024, 2:30 PM
Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street
Tickets

It has been over a decade since Knoxville Opera last produced Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata, an interesting fact along side actual worldwide numbers. Those that count such things—websites like OperaBase.com—report that La Traviata is regularly at the top of the “Most Produced Operas” list along with Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Puccini’s La Bohème. There is no real mystery as to this kind of operatic popularity. Popular operas have tuneful scores that appeal to a large audience, intriguing characters, compelling stories, and virtuosic performance potential.

Obviously, though, popularity has its downsides. The familiarity that makes La Traviata so attractive and appealing to audiences can send production companies to the drawing board to find fresh and novel approaches. Interestingly, the last Knoxville Opera production of La Traviata in 2011 had just such a novel and intriguing approach from stage director Keturah Stickann, who is returning for the 2024 KO production. That production has two performances this weekend, February 16 and 18, at the Tennessee Theatre. 

Joining Stickann on the artistic team is Joseph Mechavich, who will be conducting the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Christy Lee is the Chorus Director.

The Opera

Verdi’s La Traviata is in three acts and enjoys a libretto by Franceso Maria Piave that was based on the Alexander Dumas fils play, La Dame aux camélias (The Lady of the Camellias), which the playwright adapted from his own novel. The opera premiered in 1853 in Venice following Verdi’s recent successes with Rigoletto and Il Trovatore in Rome. The familiar Dumas story has been the basis for an extensive number of films, ballets, and other stage works.

The Knoxville Opera Cast

Violetta Valéry — Anya Matanovič (soprano)
Alfredo Germont — Chauncey Packer (tenor)
Giorgio Germont —Malcolm MacKenzie (baritone)
Flora Bervoix — Eliza Bonet (mezzo-soprano)
Barone Douphol — Daniel Spiotta (baritone)
Gastone de Letorières — John Overholt (tenor)
Marchese d’Obigny — Scott Purcell (bass)
Dottore Grenvil — Daniel Johnson-Webb (bass)
Annina — Emma Wilson (soprano)
Giuseppe — Kurt Lannetti (tenor)
Commissario — Joel Brown (bass)