La traviata

Lead Donor of the GNO

Sponsor of the tribute to Nikos S. Petropoulos

The final production of the GNO for the 2025/26 season, the revival of La traviata, will be presented for the first time at the Stavros Niarchos Hall, marking the launch of a new chapter in summer opera performances held in the ideal conditions of an air-conditioned venue.

Following its triumphant tour to Thessaloniki and China, Giuseppe Verdi’s masterpiece, featuring the signature of Nikos S. Petropoulos, returns to the Greek National Opera twenty-five years after its first performance at the Olympia Theatre, as part of a tribute to the renowned Greek opera director and set and costume designer.

Petropoulos offers us a remarkable portrayal of 19th-century France, creating a spectacular depiction of the scenes both at Violetta Valéry's residence in Paris and her home in the countryside outside the French capital, featuring impressive costumes that are perfectly aligned with the work’s spirit.

The opera tells the story of a courtesan’s romantic relationship with the son of a respectable bourgeois family in Paris. Their relationship provokes the reaction of the young man’s family; the couple breaks up but reunites a while before the girl dies. The premiere of La traviata at Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 1853 is usually referred to as one of the biggest failures in the history of opera. “La traviata was a fiasco, spare yourself from finding an excuse, it's just how it is,” wrote Verdi to his publisher Tito Ricordi, the following day, on 7 March 1953. A century and a half later, this Verdian masterpiece is hailed as one of the most popular works in the repertoire, featuring hundreds of performances each year at the world’s greatest opera houses and attracting thousands of ecstatic spectators.

In La traviata, Verdi successfully weaves an intricate psychological portrayal of his heroine. Depending on the shifts in her mental state, Verdi's approach to vocal composition changes from one act to another. In Act I, hedonistic sexual freedom and the glamorous yet decadent Paris are depicted through music that demands virtuosic skills from the soprano performing the title role. In Act II, the serenity of life in nature and the heroine’s profound emotions are conveyed by a warm, lyrical soprano voice, while the tragic ending of the couple’s thwarted love is underscored by dark vocal tones that express anguish and despair.