Visual extravagance awaits at Artscape this October

Step into a world of passion, tragedy, magnificent melody and visual extravagance as Cape Town Opera (CTO) and Opera UCT present La traviata, Verdi's timeless masterpiece that will premiere at Artscape this October .

The limited season will feature two dynamic casts, each featuring a combination of singers from both institutions. Cape Town Opera House Soloists Brittany Smith as Violetta, Lukhanyo Moyake as Alfredo and Conroy Scott as Germont join forces with Opera UCT's rising talent in Ondelwa Martins as Violetta, Sakhumzi Martins as Alfredo and Siphe Kwani as Germont.

The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra will be under the baton of Jeremy Silver for whom La traviata hold special significance, being the first opera he conducted in South Africa at the State Theatre, Pretoria in 2004. The combined Chorus from CTO and Opera UCT will be directed by Marvin Kernelle and the dance ensemble hails from The Waterfront Theatre School with choreography by Kirsten Isenberg.

Directed by Marí Borstlap La traviata is one of the most accessible and frequently performed operas with some of the most recognised and revered arias in the world, that has resonated with audiences since its Venetian première in 1853. The story centres around the glamorous high-class courtesan Violetta and her lover Alfredo as they confront relationship challenges in a society that judges them morally and socially.

Smith, who plays Violetta, said Marí’s la traviata is not like anything anyone has seen before.

“Visually but also in how she gives the characters a new life . For me to be playing this role would be the ultimate experience of venturing into newer, bigger and more complex worlds and this is Marí’s La traviata.

“I’m not going to be playing her like it’s been done throughout the many years of Violetta. My Violetta is going to be controversial because of how much realness I am bringing into the character, and this makes me think that it will leave the audience on the edge of their seats wanting for more, not more grandeur but more relatability. I want to show people that this human being, despite giving up the love of her life, is actually way deeper than what she’s usually made out to be and therein lies the magic of this beautiful tragedy,” she said.

Silver said With La traviata, Verdi broke new ground in prising open traditional formal structures to accommodate a deeper, more personal, more nuanced expressiveness in his characters.

“Nowadays we are so familiar and comfortable with a score like La Traviata that we no longer recognise this progressive spirit. We aim to present this story and these characters in such a vivid way that we recapture a little of what Verdi’s original audiences might have felt when they first experienced this piece. Marí- “La traviata is such an accessible opera- we really want to attract people who have never been to opera while thrilling aficionados at the same time. This story has resonated since the very first performance in Venice all those years ago,” he said.

Borstlap said: “La traviata is such an accessible opera- we really want to attract people who have never been to opera while thrilling aficionados at the same time. This story has resonated since the very first performance in Venice all those years ago”.

Performances are October 26 and 27 at 19h00, October 28 at 18h00 and October 29 at 15h00. Tickets are from R180 to R520 through Computicket or 0214217695.