Opera in Hong Kong is back. Of course, it never quite went away, but after intermittent cancellations of major productions as recently as this spring, Opera Hong Kong’s fall production is a gloriously defiant La Traviata.
Based on Alexandre Dumas’s hit play La Dame aux camélias that had opened only the year before in 1852, La Traviata (“The Fallen Woman”) is Giuseppe Verdi’s most immediate opera, set in what was the composer’s “present day”. A touching yet tragic love story, the work is also a forceful indictment of class bigotry and gender prejudice that still resonates today, a story all the more poignant—and grimly credible—at a time when the city is still only just emerging from its own battles with pestilence.
La Traviata is the third of Verdi’s great trio of operas, following Rigoletto and Il Trovatore, that cemented his reputation as Italy’s greatest operatic composer. Its domestic drama is also the most realistic: there are no curses, fables, castles, assassins—just people very much like us. In the humanity and fallibility of his characters, La Traviata looks forward to verismo operas of the end of the 19th-century. Verdi, as always, was ahead of his time.
This production is blessed with a depth of talent and experience in the principal roles. Venera Gimadieva brings international star power to the role of Violetta, while Operalia-winner, tenor Mario Chang makes for an elegantly lyrical Alfredo. Baritone Stephen Powell sings a suave Germont (generating perhaps more sympathy than the character deserves); Luca Grassi’s portrayal exudes more menace.
But the production might be remembered for its surprises. Tenor Kang Wang, who originally hails from Harbin, has a powerful, ringing voice and a striking stage presence. Australian-Mauritian soprano Stacey Alleaume combines a marvelous voice, both fresh and true, with acting and characterization to create a Violetta with a distinct personality, one alive and believable.
Among the smaller roles sung by stalwarts of the local opera scene, Bobbie Zhang stands out as Flora.
The Hong Kong Philharmonic is led by Renato Pallumbo.
La Traviata continues at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre through 9 October.
Peter Gordon contributes surtitles and programme notes to this production.