Great Performances at the Met: La Traviata on PBS

Mar 15, 2019

Premiering in the US on Friday, April 5 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), with an encore on Sunday, April 7 at 12 p.m, season 13 of Great Performances at the Met comes to primetime with Verdi’s masterpiece La Traviata. Conducted by new Metropolitan Opera music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the opera stars Diana Damrau in the pinnacle soprano role of Violetta alongside Juan Diego Flórez as her hapless lover Alfredo and Quinn Kelsey as his father Germont.

Michael Mayer’s new production follows courtesan Violetta Valéry, who knows she will die soon and wishes to leave her professional life for a chance at love. After meeting the charming Alfredo Germont at a party, the two begin a relationship and move to the country in an effort to enjoy their love away from society. A tumultuous visit from Alfredo’s father, the bourgeois Giorgio Germont, casts doubt in Violetta’s heart for the future of their relationship, causing her to abandon their love nest. After seeing Violetta on the arm of a baron, a jealous Alfredo must fight for his love and reunite with her before it is too late. Anita Rachvelishvili hosts.