If you want to know more about who I am, then please take a look at my homepage which is at www.guyedwards.info

Now, I'm not sure why I think I need a blog, but here goes...

I wanted to start with a review of the opera, La Traviata, staged by Ellen Kent at the Bristol Hippodrome back in February 2008. Opera is one of my great passions and La Traviata is probably one of my favourite operas, so this was too good a chance to miss!

Review: La Traviata – Bristol Hippodrome 28 Feb 08 – Ukrainian National Opera

As with all of Ellen Kent’s lavish crowd-pleasing productions, Verdi’s La Traviata at the Bristol Hippodrome (28 February) proved to be a sumptuously rich mix of beautifully performed music and elegant, traditional costumary and sets. The result was a memorable night at the opera and if we needed reminding why this is such a popular opera, then this performance by the Ukrainian National Opera gave the answer.

Maria Tsonina sang the role of Parisian courtesan Violetta, whose tragic and inappropriate love affair with aristocratic Alfredo, causes angst to his family. The duet in which Alfredo’s father Giorgio, superbly sung by Vladimir Dragos, entreats with Violetta to leave Alfredo for the sake of his family was one of the most poignant and well-acted moments of the opera. Indeed, Dragos’ rich baritone voice was delightful and well-balanced throughout, powerful yet never overpowering. His impassioned plea to Alfredo to return with him to the family home in Provence (Di Provenza il Mar) was full of warmth and richness of tone.

Ruslan Zinevych’s Alfredo was also very well sung although occasionally a very Neapolitan and unnecessary use of portamento distracted slightly from the clean line of the music. For me, his finest hour came in the scene where, believing that Violetta has abandoned him in favour of her old lifestyle, he publicly humiliates the woman who adores him, by throwing money at her during her friend’s society party. Here, the emotion was raw, the singing at its dramatic best, and the acting thoroughly well executed – even by Zinevych, who in some earlier scenes had appeared rather stiff.

I think this Traviata will be particularly well-remembered for Tsonina’s superbly-acted and thoroughly engaging Violetta with whom the audience easily empathized and who delighted us with her sweet tone. Her deft touch in the coloratura passages was a joy to hear and her clarity and delivery was invariably excellent.

The final act, in which Alfredo and Violetta are finally reconciled, was full of the pathos and tenderness we expect from La Traviata, without becoming overly sentimental. Perhaps the stage direction was a little exuberant here, somewhat stretching the audience’s belief that Violetta’s death was imminent, but the denouement lost none of its impact as a consequence.

Ellen Kent knows how to please and if the quality and standard of this performance is anything to go by, future productions are well worth seeing.