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Portland Opera Poised to Launch 2018/19 Season with Romantic La Traviata

Portland, OR. Portland Opera is pulling out all the stops to build excitement for its first big production of the season next month. It is holding an open rehearsal of the organization’s chorus as they prepare for November’s production of Verdi’s La Traviata. The outdoor public working rehearsal on Sunday, October 7th will be held in Director Park (815 SW Park Ave) from 2:00-4:00 pm and will feature the opera chorus. In addition to the rehearsal, downtown shoppers are getting a glimpse of some of the costumes for the production.

The Mercantile at 7th and Alder has a special La Traviata costume in the window.

Portland Opera’s Costume Director Christine A. Richardson and her staff are working on dozens of period ensembles.

Christopher Mattaliano, Portland Opera’s general director, supervises every the detail of the productions. “I am very excited to begin our new season with a traditional production of a work by one of my favorite composers, Giuseppe Verdi,” says Christopher Mattaliano. “This magnificent score and story are deeply human, and although it was composed 165 years ago, the situations and characters continue to resonate with audiences today.”

Sets and costumes are a big part of the spectacle of the opera experience.

Romanian soprano Aurelia Florian makes her Portland Opera debut as the tour de force heroine. The famous Italian opera, La Traviata, tells the story of the brilliant and beautiful Parisian courtesan Violetta Valéry and her forbidden love. Haunted by illness, Violetta navigates sexual politics and societal expectations as she endures a broken heart.

Portland Opera will present four performances of La Traviata on November 2, 4 (matinee), 8, and 10 at the Keller Auditorium. Tickets start at $35 and are available atwww.portlandopera.org, or by calling 503-241-1802.

From Portland Opera:

Portland Opera exists to inspire, challenge, and uplift our audiences by creating productions of high artistic quality that celebrate the beauty and breadth of opera. The company produces both classic and contemporary opera, which are performed in the Keller Auditorium, Newmark Theatre, and the Gregory K. and Mary Chomenko Hinckley Studio Theatre at the Hampton Opera Center. All performances are sung in the original language with English surtitles projected above the stage.

Portland Opera’s 2018/19 season features Verdi’s La Traviata, Laura Kaminsky’s As One,the annual Big Night concert, Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera, and Philip Glass’s In the Penal Colony. The company is also a committed educational partner, touring staged operas to schools and community centers throughout Oregon and SW Washington region each year, in addition to a host of other efforts designed to make opera accessible for all.

Elisa Klein

I’ve been a professional journalist and writer since 1987, (and long-time reporter for KOIN-TV.) As a nationally published reporter, with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, I love to report positive news and information. Journalism has also connected me with another non-profit where I served as a leader; the Northwest’s biggest writer’s organization: The Willamette Writers.