Shame, camera, action: Verdi's La traviata at Longborough

By Charlotte Valori, 28 June 2018

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“putting topspin on a familiar libretto to touch raw contemporary nerves”

Reviewed at Longborough Festival Opera, Moreton-in-Marsh on 26 June 2018

Verdi, La traviata

Longborough Festival Opera

Thomas Blunt, Conductor

Daisy Evans, Director

Loren Elstein, Set Designer

Anna Patalong, Violetta Valéry

Mark Stone, Giorgio Germont

Peter Gijsbertsen, Alfredo Germont

Samantha Price, Flora Bervoix

Jenny Stafford, Annina

Sion Goronwy, Marquis d'Obigny

Timothy Dickinson, Dr Grenvil

Eddie Wade, Baron Douphol

Aled Hall, Gastone de Letorières

Dorman’s Wahnfried receives its UK premiere at Longborough

Mark Pullinger, 27th May

Longborough Festival Opera, built on Wagnerian foundations, stages the UK premiere of Avner Dorman’s ambitious cautionary tale about the Wagner clan and establishing the composer’s legacy.

***11

An enthralling Walküre at Longborough Opera Festival

David Karlin, 18th June

Who wouldn't relish the chance of seeing a Ring cycle at close quarters? Longborough's Die Walküre isn't perfect, but it consistently delivers on the story and on character interpretation.

****1

Back to the Bard: Longborough's Fairy Queen

Roy Westbrook, 29th July

Polly Graham's production turns semi-opera into “three-quarters opera”, to good effect.

***11

Don't look back: Longborough's new L'Orfeo

Roy Westbrook, 11th July

Olivia Fuchs directs Monteverdi's early opera in a sparse staging with a consistently fine cast.

***11

Fame and feuding on the Rhine: Longborough's new Götterdämmerung

Roy Westbrook, 29th May

Longborough's Ring Cycle reaches completion in the Cotswold's, effectively staged by Amy Lane.

****1

Grief compellingly explored: Die tote Stadt at Longborough

David Karlin, 27th June

An outstanding performance from Rachel Nicholls lights up Carmen Jakobi's compelling production of Korngold's exploration of grief.

****1

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Charlotte Valori

Charlotte Valori read Classics at Christ Church, Oxford. As a classicist, her main interest is Greek tragedy and its reception by later cultures, which has led to a continuing passion for theatre and opera. Charlotte reviews for several online magazines, and won the Bachtrack Opera Award 2015 for Best Written English Review. Follow her on Twitter @operissima.