When Courtesan Violetta and nobleman Alfredo meet, it does not take them long to give in to love. Their whirlwind romance takes them from the bustling social salons of Paris into the quiet French countryside. She leaves a life of luster and riches behind. He angers his father by living in sin with an impure woman. After a visit by Alfredos father, Violetta realizes, that them being together is destroying Alfredo’s life and his family’s reputation. She returns to her former life and is confronted by an angry Alfredo, who thinks she has used him. Some time passes by, and Violetta is on her deathbed. Tuberculosis has struck her down. Poor and alone, she awaits death. When Alfredo learns the reason why Violetta left him and that she is dying, he comes to her. They plan to leave Paris, but there is no time left.

After Alexandre Dumas’ The Lady of the Camellias Verdi composed an opera full of undying melodies, beginning with the famous drinking song “Libiamo ne ‘liete calici” via Violettas heart-wrenching aria “Estrano…Af fors’e lui” to Violetta and Alfredo’s hopeful, yet sad Duetto “Parigi, o cara”. It is no wonder, that La Traviata is one of the most played operas.

La Traviata

Olavinlinna

Enrico di Borgogna

Teatro Malibran

Considered too realistic at its premiere in 1853, La Traviata remains one of the essential operas in the lyric repertoire. At the end of the first act, Violetta proclaims sempre libera (always free): is this a feminist plea ahead of its time or a tragic illusion? From the ballroom to the confines of the sanatorium, Verdi infuses his masterpiece with ardent music, sometimes breathless, but constantly seeking to free itself from conventions to achieve authentic beauty. Silvia Paoli, one of the great directors of our time, dares a powerful and virtuoso dramaturgical gesture, in total osmosis with the direction of Roderick Cox who brings this iconic score to incandescence, ideally served by the solar soprano of Ruzan Mantashyan and the very remarkable tenor Omer Kobiljak.

Opéra Comédie

Cavalleria rusticana: opera in one act, with a libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci. Premiered in Rome at the Teatro Costanzi on May 17, 1890 / Pagliacci: opera in two acts, with a libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. Premiered in Milan at the Teatro dal Verme on May 21, 1892.

Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci

Opéra Berlioz

In partnership with the Vichy Opera, Clermont Auvergne Opéra allows you to attend Puccini's masterpiece by giving you a €10 reduction on the price of the ticket and by providing you with a free shuttle from Clermont-Ferrand.

Tosca

Vichy Opera House

An opera troupe gathers in the theatre of a small Italian town to rehearse the serious melodrama scheduled for the local fair season. The libretto—by none other than Metastasio—has been clumsily adapted by a local hack poet, then set to music by an even more provincial composer. As for the singers, they may be second-rate, but they carry themselves with all the airs and demands of true stars. And so the stage quickly fills with squabbles between rival prima donnas, grumbling from the disgruntled, and a harried poet and composer struggling to satisfy everyone’s whims—not to mention meddling mothers and intrusive husbands.

Silvia Paoli

Events

Upcoming events

12 - 28 Nov, 2026

Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali · Fondazione Teatro Donizetti

Past events

27 - 31 Jul, 2026

La Traviata · Savonlinna Opera Festival

12 - 20 Jun, 2026

Enrico di Borgogna · Teatro La Fenice

About

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