Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conducts New Production Of LA TRAVIATA Starring Diana Damrau and Juan Diego Flórez

The Metropolitan Opera's new production of La Traviata, opening December 4, will be the first opera conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin as the Met's Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director. Soprano Diana Damrau, who made her acclaimed role debut as Violetta at the Met during the 2012-2013 season (with Maestro Nézet-Séguin on the podium), returns as the tragic heroine. Tenor Juan Diego Flórez, performing at the Met for the first time since 2015, will make his role debut as Alfredo, Violetta's hapless lover, with baritone Quinn Kelsey as Alfredo's disapproving father, Giorgio Germont. Michael Mayer's new staging will be transmitted live throughout the world on December 15 as part of the Met's Live in HD series.

In this new production, the changing seasons mirror the arc of the story as a dazzling mid-19th-century setting is transformed from winter through fall. Set design is by Christine Jones, winner of the 2018 Tony Award for Scenic Design for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Costume designs are by Susan Hilferty, lighting by Kevin Adams, and choreography by Lorin Latarro, making her Met debut.

When the production returns in the spring for a further seven performances beginning April 5, 2019, Nicola Luisotti will conduct Anita Hartig as Violetta and Stephen Costello as Alfredo. The role of the elder Germont will be shared by Artur Ruci?ski and Plácido Domingo, in a role he debuted to acclaim at the Met in 2013.

La Traviata Worldwide Broadcasts in Cinema, Radio, and Online

The performance of La Traviata on Saturday, December 15 will be transmitted live to more than 2,200 movie theaters in more than 70 countries as part of the Met's Live in HD series. The transmission will be hosted by mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili, who will be seen at the Met later this season in new productions of Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur and Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila.

The December 4, December 15, December 26, and April 17 performances of La Traviata will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 75, and the December 4, December 26, and April 17 performances will also be streamed live on the Met's web site, metopera.org.

La Traviata Artist Biographies

German soprano Diana Damrau reprises Violetta, a role she sang at the Met in 2013 and has also sung at La Scala, Paris Opera, Bavarian State Opera, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Since her Met debut in 2005 as Zerbinetta in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, she has sung more than 100 performances with the company, including as Leïla in a new production of Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles, the title role of Massenet's Manon, Amina in Bellini's La Sonnambula, Rosina in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Pamina and the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, the Countess Adèle in the Met premiere of Rossini's Le Comte Ory, the title role of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Adina in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, and Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto.

Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez made his Met debut in 2002 as Count Almaviva in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia and has subsequently appeared in many roles, including Ernesto in Donizetti's Don Pasquale and Tonio in La Fille du Régiment (both new production premieres), Elvino in Bellini's La Sonnambula (new production premiere), and Nemorino in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore. At the Met and around the world, he has been a key figure in the revival of many of Rossini's rarely done works and leading bel canto roles, including King James V of Scotland in La Donna del Lago, the title role in the Met premiere of Le Comte Ory, Lindoro in L'Italiana in Algeri, and Ramiro in La Cenerentola.

American baritone Quinn Kelsey reprises Giorgio Germont, a role he previously sang in the 2014-2015 season. The winner of the Met's 2015 Beverly Sills Artist Award, his other company credits include Count di Luna in Verdi's Il Trovatore, Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Peter in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Monterone in Verdi's Rigoletto, and Marcello and Schaunard in Puccini's La Bohème. Earlier this season, he sang Amonasro in Verdi's Aida, which was seen as a part of The Met: Live in HD series.

The Met's Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin made his Met debut in the 2009-2010 season, conducting a new production of Bizet's Carmen. The Canadian conductor has returned in every subsequent season, leading performances of Wagner's Parsifal, Strauss's Elektra, Verdi's Don Carlo, Gounod's Faust, Verdi's La Traviata, and Dvo?ák's Rusalka. He also led the opening night performance of the Met's 2015-2016 season, a new production of Verdi's Otello. He has conducted a wide breadth of repertoire at a number of the world's leading companies, including the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Dutch National Opera, the Salzburg Festival, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in addition to the Met. He is also a frequent guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Since 2012, he has been music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is also music director of Montreal's Orchestre Métropolitain.

American director Michael Mayer, whose production of Nico Muhly's Marnie is currently on stage at the Met, made his company debut in the 2012-2013 season with the neon-bedecked, Las Vegas-themed production of Rigoletto, which returns later this season. He has directed a diverse range of acclaimed productions on Broadway, on film, and on television. He is perhaps best known to theater audiences for directing two Tony Award-winning musicals, Spring Awakening and American Idiot. His additional Broadway credits include the musicals Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Triumph of Love, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Everyday Rapture, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, as well as the plays 'Night Mother, After the Fall, An Almost Holy Picture, Uncle Vanya, The Lion in Winter, Side Man, and A View From the Bridge. He directed the films The Seagull, Flicka, and A Home at the End of the World. His television credits include the NBC series Smash and Do No Harm.

For More Information

For further details on La Traviata, including casting by date, please click here.

Photo Credit: Vincent Peters / Met Opera

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