Overcrowding suffocates DNO's Traviata

Adela Zaharia (Violetta) and ensemble

Adela Zaharia (Violetta)

George Petean (Germont), Adela Zaharia (Violetta) and ensemble

George Petean (Germont), Adela Zaharia ((Violetta) and Bogdan Volkov (Alfredo)

By Eleanor Knight, 29 January 2024

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“it’s as if Gürbaca has run individual lines of the libretto through an online symbolism generator”

Reviewed at Dutch National Opera and Ballet, Amsterdam on 27 January 2024

Verdi, La traviata

Dutch National Opera

Andrea Battistoni, Conductor

Tatjana Gürbaca, Director

Henrik Ahr, Set Designer

Barbara Drosihn, Costume Designer

Stefan Bolliger, Lighting Designer

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

Chorus of Dutch National Opera

Bettina Auer, Dramaturgy

Adela Zaharia, Violetta Valéry

Bogdan Volkov, Alfredo Germont

George Petean, Giorgio Germont

Inna Demenkova, Annina

Michael Wilmering, Marquis d'Obigny

Martina Myskohlid, Flora Bervoix

Roger Smeets, Baron Douphol

Bart Driessen, Dr Grenvil

Salvador Villanueva, Gastone de Letorières

Dimo Georgiev, Giuseppe

Christiaan Peters, Commissioner

Sander Heutinck, Flora's servant

Edward Ananian-Cooper, Choirmaster / chorus director

Weinberg’s The Passenger at Dutch National Opera

Clare Varney, 17th April

Tobias Kratzer's 2024 Munich production makes its way to Amsterdam, proving that Weinberg's opera has the power to transfix.

****1

Dutch National Ballet's reimagined La Bayadère triumphs

Mark Vicente, 26th March

Dutch National Ballet's new production of La Bayadère does away with the ballet’s problematic gestures and movements, allowing the choreography to truly shine.

****1

Michel van der Aa’s Theory of Flames: defining opera for a modern age

Clare Varney, 6th March

British singers Mary Bevan and Roderick Williams lead the cast in Dutch National Opera’s latest ground-breaking opera, merging live music with pre-recorded film and electronics.

****1

Dutch National Ballet brings much needed heat to this winter season

Mark Vicente, 10th February

The Dutch National Ballet helped shake off those winter blues with a mixed programme that highlighted ballet’s love affair with Latin rhythms and movement.

****1

Semele at Dutch National Opera: myth, desire and fantasy

Mengguang Huang, 23rd January

Guth’s Semele turns myth into a contemporary domestic drama, where desire becomes obsession and illusion consumes reality. Handel’s music remains the true engine, driven by a thrilling, physically intense ensemble.

****1

Dutch National Ballet's Program B is the A+ Program in New York

Ivy Lin, 21st November

Dutch National Ballet's second mixed bill at New York City Center ticked all the right boxes, showcasing the depth of talent across the whole company.

*****

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Eleanor Knight

Eleanor is a writer and librettist. Her work has appeared in all kinds of places from the Royal Opera House to the foot tunnels beneath the Elephant and Castle roundabout, and she has written arts reviews and features for British papers and magazines. Having begun her working life in theatre, she switched to publishing and later taught creative writing at the University of Brighton and Birkbeck. Currently based in the Netherlands, she teaches at the University of Utrecht. Eleanor plays violin and sings, though not usually at the same time, and has recently taken up speed-skating.