The XXIII Stars of the White Nights festival will be held a premiere of the new production of the opera La traviata mounted by Claudia Solti and designed by Isabella Bywater (17, 18, 21 June and 27, 28 July)
– You have already worked with the Mariinsky before – so, who suggested the idea of this particular opera production? Did the management of the theatre offer it or was it your own choice?
The maestro chose La traviata, it was his idea.
– Currently we have a production of La traviata, also at the Mariinsky II – have you seen it?
I want to see it, but I probably won’t see it until after we’ve finished this production because I like to keep things quite fresh in my mind – you know, my own idea.
The thing that was very important to me and Isabella was to be able to see all of the rooms in Violetta’s apartment because I think this opera is so much about... well, it’s about many things, but one of the things it’s about is materialism and I also think there’s a very sort of voyeuristic aspect to the novel, and so the idea that we can see these glimpses into the whole of her apartment and really understand how these people live, not just in one space but in multiple spaces, and also have these glimpses “through the windows”... I love the thing about driving around at night when in the evening just before night comes and people have turned on the lights in their houses and you see, you get these moments when you see and it’s that kind of feeling.
– You know many of our opera company soloists and what they are capable of. Who supervised the casting of the singers for this production – you or the Mariinsky theatre?
One of the most important things is that heroes of the opera are young and they will be sung by soloists from the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers. Unfortunately, these roles are often played by much older people and the love story of Violetta and Alfredo is also often performed very “politely” because it happened one hundred and fifty years ago and so the people were very polite. Whereas to me these are real people, they’re real flesh and blood, they’re young and they’re in love and it’s a party environment. Not people drinking cups of tea politely, I don’t see it like that, I see it much more as sex, drugs and rock and roll.
– So, the behaviour of Verdi characters will be modern? It is known that the composer himself insisted on a contemporary staging of La traviata and the scandal at its premiere was to a great extent due to the modernity and boldness of the plot.
Yes, the behaviour of the characters will be modern but the look of production isn’t modern, so it’ll be that mix that I love. I want it to look very beautiful so I didn’t want to stage it in a contemporary setting and, you know, the parallels are obvious – without needing to put them in modern quotes.
– Who is the principal character in your production? Is it Violetta or Alfredo, or perhaps Giorgio Germont?
I think that all three of them have big story arcs and I don’t think there is necessarily a central character, I think all three of them are fascinating, they all have these enormous journeys that they go on, particularly Violetta and Germont.
– And what is the most important for you in an opera – the vocals or the drama or perhaps the visual aspect? Your previous work at the Mariinsky Theatre was a spectacular production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream with its ethereal flights of fancy and transformations.
All of those are equally important to me. I’m always fascinated by how you can get music visuals to really, really work together so that things happen and everything occurs “as one”. And the music and the movement become one entity. I’m really fascinated by that generally. And there will be the same flights of fancy in new Traviata!
Speaking with Nadezhda Kulygina
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