“Libiam!” Raising a glass to 25 years of Covent Garden's Traviata

By Roy Westbrook, 18 December 2019

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“Avetisyan did well to ignore conductor Daniel Oren’s frantic hand waving”

Reviewed at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 17 December 2019

Verdi, La traviata

The Royal Opera

Daniel Oren, Conductor

Sir Richard Eyre, Director

Bob Crowley, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Hrachuhí Bassénz, Violetta Valéry

Liparit Avetisyan, Alfredo Germont

Sir Simon Keenlyside, Giorgio Germont

Stephanie Wake-Edwards, Flora Bervoix

Andrés Presno, Gastone de Letorières

Sarah Pring, Annina

Germán Enrique Alcántara, Baron Douphol

Timothy Dawkins, Dr Grenvil

Jeremy White, Marquis d'Obigny

Royal Opera Chorus

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

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Dominic Lowe, 25th March

Sir Mark Elder celebrates 50 years at Covent Garden by returning to his first opera there in 1976 – Verdi's Rigoletto – in a revival of Oliver Mears' excellent 2021 production.

****1

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Terfel’s craggy Boris Godunov returns to Covent Garden

Mark Pullinger, 29th January

The second revival of Richard Jones' staging of Mussorgsky's original 1869 version of Boris Godunov once again stars the Welsh knight.

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Ermonela Jaho returns in triumph to The Royal Opera’s Traviata

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Turandot drowned in an orchestral tsunami at The Royal Opera

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***11

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Roy Westbrook

Roy Westbrook gained a diploma in music history at London University (Morley College) and was for some years the head of music day schools at Oxford University, where he also led music summer schools. After some years leading the University's business school he has returned to music teaching and writing, and recently took part in the Arts in Residence courses on Bruckner, Mahler and Bach He is co-author (with Terry Barfoot) of a history of opera, and has taught day schools on Sibelius in Oxford and elsewhere.

“Libiam!” Raising a glass to 25 years of Covent Garden's glorious Traviata