Crowd Favorite La Traviata Concludes Virginia Opera’s 2022-2023 Season
Traditional production of Giuseppe Verdi’s classic opera features fresh faces and the Richmond Symphony
Norfolk, Richmond, Fairfax VA (February 27, 2023)— La Traviata’s 1853 opening night was deemed a failure in Verdi’s own words. It now stands as one of the most iconic and well-known operas in the repertoire. La Traviata will conclude Virginia Opera’s 2022-2023 season with performances in Norfolk, Fairfax, and Richmond this March. Press passes are available by contacting Virginia Opera’s Director of Marketing, Amanda Ivy, at Amanda.ivy@vaopera.org.
“Our 2022-2023 Season at Virginia Opera has covered a lot of ground,” says Peggy Kriha Dye, General Director and CEO of Virginia Opera. “We continued our first-ever Ring Cycle last fall with The Valkyrie followed by the family favorite The Pirates of Penzance. Most recently we produced the Virginia premiere of an important and beautiful work, Fellow Travelers. La Traviata is the ultimate exclamation point to the season with a full orchestra, chorus, and a period production. It is perfect for the seasoned opera-goer and opera newcomers alike.”
La Traviata tells the story of a stunning courtesan, Violetta, and the hopelessly romantic Alfredo. Over the course of three acts, audiences will be treated to one of opera’s greatest love stories that ends as many do – in tragedy. The source material for pop culture icons Julia Robert’s Pretty Woman, and Nicole Kidman’s Moulin Rouge, La Traviata endures for good reason.
The production features the Virginia Opera debuts of Brandie Inez Sutton as Violetta, Won Whi Choi as Alfredo, and Tara Faircloth as Director.
Soprano Brandie Inez Sutton has garnered accolades and devoted fans around the globe, thanks to an impressive array of recitals, operatic roles, and concert performances with acclaimed orchestras and opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera. Hailed by Opera News for her “sumptuous, mid-weight soprano,” and by The New York Times for her “warm, ample voice,” and “ravishing performance” Ms. Sutton is one of the classical world’s most impressive new stars.
Tenor Won Whi Choi has been busy captivating and thrilling audiences worldwide with his lustrous and ringing voice, elegant musicianship, and sensitive artistry. He spent the last three seasons at Theatre Erfurt in Germany. In 2020, Mr. Choi made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Alfredo in La Traviata to rave reviews.
Stage Director Tara Faircloth has directed extensively around the country as well as on the directing staff of such companies as Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Central City Opera, and Dallas Opera. Passionate about dramatic training for young singers, she is the Drama Instructor for the Houston Grand Opera Studio and HGO’s Young Artists’ Vocal Academy and has served as a guest coach at Wolf Trap Opera Studio, Des Moines Metro Opera, University of Michigan, and Rice University. Faircloth has been praised in Opera News for her work’s “unstoppable momentum…entertaining the amateur and the opera aficionado alike.”
“La Traviata is a magical score and we are thrilled to remount our extremely well received production from 2015,” explains Artistic Director, Adam Turner. “I am also thrilled to introduce audiences to our amazing leading couple – both of whom are making their Virginia Opera debuts. Brandie and Won Whi are incredibly talented singers, bringing both power and tenderness to the roles. All of this is being woven together expertly under the direction of Tara Faircloth, who we are thrilled to welcome to Virginia.”
La Traviata is sung in Italian with English surtitles, and the Richmond Symphony will perform Verdi’s score. Conducted by Turner, La Traviata concludes Virginia Opera’s the 2022-2023 season.
The La Traviata cast also includes the return of baritone Grant Youngblood whose last Virginia Opera appearance was in the same role of Germont in the 2005 production. Virginia Opera’s Herndon Foundation Emerging Artists Fran Daniel Laucerica, Kaileigh Riess, Kyle White, Ryan Lustgarten, Erik Grendahl, and Jeremy Harr round out the cast, playing a variety of roles.
Tickets for La Traviata can be purchased at vaopera.org/la-traviata or by calling 866.673.7282.
ABOUT VIRGINIA OPERA
Virginia Opera, the official opera company of the Commonwealth of Virginia, is one of the finest regional opera companies in the nation and is the only company to perform regularly in three separate main stage venues: the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk, the Carpenter Theatre at the Dominion Energy Center in Richmond, and Center for the Arts at George Mason University in Fairfax. Organized in 1974, Virginia Opera is respected nationwide for the identification and presentation of the finest young artists, for the musical and dramatic integrity of its productions, and for the ingenuity and variety of its education and outreach programs.