Verdi's La Traviata in Met HD

Willy Decker’s strikingly beautiful production of Verdi’s La Traviata, a hit when it premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 2005, comes to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute on Saturday, April 14 at 1:00 pm, live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera. Soprano Marina Poplavskaya stars as opera’s most fascinating heroine. “Poplavskaya rules...the Russian soprano is riveting...the total effect is stunning” (Associated Press). Tickets are $25 ($18 for members and students) and may be ordered online at clarkart.edu or by calling 413 458 0MET (458 0638). The box office will also be open one hour before the performance, and the doors will open at 12:30 pm.

“Violetta is an outlaw,” Decker says. “Society shuts her out and looks down on her as a person without feeling, without love. But the further you look into the piece, you see that it’s the other way around: she is the only person in the opera who truly loves, selflessly. Verdi follows her like an obsessed lover throughout the piece, and by the end, our sympathy too is completely on her side.” Matthew Polenzani plays Alfredo with Andrzej Dobber as his father; Gianandrea Noseda conducts Verdi’s timeless tragedy. “[Popovskaya’s] voice is a wonder, especially in the higher regions. She is in total control—musically and emotionally, especially in the long duet with Germont, who is sung powerfully by Andrzej Dobber. In the final act every note Poplovskaya sings has a tangible emotional weight. It is completely heartbreaking” (Huffington Post).

The Clark’s intimate auditorium is one of the best performance venues in the region, with comfortable seating and soaring acoustics. Tickets are $25 ($18 for members and students) and may be ordered online at clarkart.edu or by calling 413 458 0MET (458 0638).