The 2021-22 season of Opera Orlando celebrates one of opera greats: Giuseppe Verdi. Audiences can now purchase individual tickets to their beloved classic, La Traviata, during the Halloween opening weekend at the Walt Disney Theater at the Dr. Phillips Center. This updated production draws on the life and experiences of Molly Bloom, who at 26 ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game, became an FBI target and lost it all.
Buy your tickets on https://bit.ly/OO_Traviata.
The artistic director of Opera Orlando, Grant Preisser, stages and conceives this original concept. “It has been thrilling to approach La Traviata through this contemporary lens and to work directly with Molly Bloom and hear her story firsthand,” said Mr. Preisser. “Violetta’s fate in the original story is a perfect parallel to that of Ms. Bloom in terms of a woman living on the dark side of life and running a dubious business that gives her access to an exclusive and intoxicating world of wealth, fame. and power. Enjoying Verdi’s glorious music, but rooting it in a more relevant cultural reference, reinforces the timelessness of the opera. I took inspiration from Mrs. Bloom’s memoir, Molly’s Game, which Aaron Sorkin has then adapted into a Hollywood blockbuster, and I can’t wait for audiences to experience this captivating, glitzy and gritty production. “
This opera is set in the underworld of New York in 2013. Violetta and Molly Bloom embrace their life choices and navigate their questionable circumstances with a moral integrity that makes the
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tragic end of the opera all the more heartbreaking. Opera collaborator, pianist and conductor Stephanie Rhodes Russell, who made her Orlando Opera debut, and internationally renowned Mexican-American soprano Cecilia Violetta López, returning to the Company’s main stage , join Mr. Preisser in telling this story and developing this new take on Verdi’s classic. like Violetta. Opera Orlando fans will remember Ms. López’s stunning appearance as part of the One Voice Orlando 2016 concert, a response to the Pulse nightclub tragedy, as well as her glorious debut as Mimi in the 2017 production of Bohemian. Since Ms. López has performed La Traviata countless times across the country, Violetta has become a signature role for her.
Opposite Ms. López, tenor Victor Ryan Robertson will make his Orlando Opera debut as Alfredo, Violetta’s Love. A true cross-over artist, Mr. Robertson is equally at home on Broadway, having sung Ubaldo Piangi in The Phantom of the Opera, and on the opera stage after making his Metropolitan Opera debut as Raoul in their 2017 production of The Merry Widow. Also making his Orlando Opera debut, ‘mighty’ baritone Thomas Cannon will play Alfredo’s caring but misguided father, Giorgio Germont, and La Traviata will mark the debut of the Company of the Season’s Studio Artists. 2021-22: soprano Rachel Querreveld as Annina, mezzo-soprano Laura Zahn as Flora, tenor Logan Webber as Gastone and baritone Geoffrey Peterson as baron Dauphol.
Members of the Opera Orlando Chorus and dancers from the Orlando Ballet round out this exceptional cast, with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra joining Opera Orlando once again. Sung in Italian with English surtitles, La Traviata will last around two and a half hours with an intermission and is truly the perfect opera to launch Viva Verdi from Opera Orlando! season.
