The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, originally known as the Teatro Constanzi, has once again seen a dramatic enhancement of artistic quality of its orchestra and chorus owing to Riccardo Muti's leadership from 2009 until 2015 as music director.
In Rome, Italy's capital and often called the Eternal City, the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, has been playing a significant role in the art scene of the country since its opening with the inaugural performance of Semiramide by Gioachino Rossini in 1880. Not a few operatic masterpieces have enjoyed their world premiere at the Theater. There are 13 major opera houses in Italy, and the Teatro Dell'Opera di Roma, together with Teatro alla Scala, is one of the most prestigious among them.
In their forthcoming Japan tour, the Company will bring La traviata by Giuseppe Verdi and Manon Lescaut by Giacomo Puccini. Both operas are based on popular tragic love stories: Alexendre Dumas fils' La Dame aux Camélias (Lady of the Camellias), the original novel of La traviata, and Abbé Prévost's Manon Lescaut. Although they were written about 100 years apart, not only are there similarities in their subject matters but there is a clear link between the two novels; in La Dame aux Camélias, Margueritte, its heroine, reads Manon Lescaut.
The new production of La traviata has been much talked about since its premiere in 2016 for its direction by film producer Sofia Coppola, which was her operatic debut, its opulent costumes by Valentino Garavani, and sets by Nathan Crowley, a production designer who mainly works on Hollywood films, best known for Batman Begins.
The company's production of Manon Lescaut was directed by Chiara Muti, the daughter of Riccardo Muti, in 2014. It will be an interesting opportunity to compare the two opulent productions.
Opera is a composite art, a stage show combining music, dramatic action and scenery that has remained current for more than 400 years. With the new productions of La traviata and Manon Lescaut, the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma will fully demonstrate their philosophy to keep challenging themselves.