Enjoy a night at the opera in Welwyn Garden City

By Alan Davies Thursday, October 18, 2012
11:45 AM

AN opera performer from Welwyn Garden City is bringing one of Verdi’s most popular works to Campus West.

La Traviata will be performed at the Hawthorne Theatre, in WGC, on Saturday, November 3.

Verdi’s masterpiece will be staged by Garden Opera, the country’s foremost small opera company. And Garden Opera’s executive and artistic director is Peter Bridges, from WGC, who played for Welwyn Opera.

Peter is delighted to bring this first-class production to his home town.

His company is highly regarded. Its latest reviews include “an ingenious, comic, deeply felt, stirring production with menacing presence and vocal weight” from Opera Magazine and the The Times recently hailed Garden Opera as a “hidden national treasure”.

La Traviata is a universal classic, telling the moving story of lonely Violetta’s transformation from a hedonistic courtesan into a tragic heroine.

Peter’s production promises to unravel the dark tragedy of Violetta’s poverty, illness and despair in a Mediterranean tour de force.

Director Saffron Van Zwanenberg has brought the action forward to a morally ambiguous 1930s Paris with stark design, haute-couture costumes and an exquisite, tailor-made score.

It is a tale of hope, despair and romantic love at its most eloquent – just the sort of intimate drama that Garden Opera excels in.

Sung in English accompanied by a fully costumed band of acclaimed chamber musicians, the outstanding singers including soloists from Covent Garden, Scottish Opera and English National Opera.

Tickets for La Traviata at the Hawthorne Theatre are £25, and £20 concessions.