Directed by Douglas Anderson and conducted by Maestro Filippo Ciabatti.
Pre-show talk with OCM Artistic Director and La Traviata Stage Director Douglas Anderson at 1:00pm
Director Douglas Anderson has set his production in the 1920s. “Verdi set the opera in the 1700s, but Violetta has always seemed to me to be a very contemporary woman, taking control of her life and refusing to be hemmed in by social norms or the men surrounding her.” Anderson chose the 1920s because it was the first moment in American history when women challenged social norms.“They broke every taboo,” says Anderson, “wearing short skirts, cutting their hair, drinking and smoking in public. They wanted to shock the world out of its Victorian complacency.” Costumer Debby Anderson has worked closely with husband Doug to clothe the singers in vibrant period gowns. “It’s a sexy, outrageous period. You get the feeling that the world is changing, that anything can happen.”
Anderson believes that if La Traviata is a tragedy, it isn’t because Violetta becomes ill. “It’s because the men in her life can’t begin to deal with this new woman. In a famous aria, she sings, 'Sempre libera' – ‘I will always be free.’ The men in La Traviata make sure that doesn’t happen."