Review: Amy Ryan (Darlington College journalism student)

The Russian State Ballet and Opera House performance of ‘La Traviata’ at Darlington Civic Theatre was well done.

Combined with the rich tones of its soprano, baritone and tenor singers along with a live orchestra, the performers told the story of Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘the fallen woman’, first performed in Venice in 1853.

The four act Italian opera was performed with English surtitles so the audience could easily follow the story of love, jealousy and misunderstanding.

Its leading soprano singer Olga Sosnovskaya gave a powerful performance in her lead role as Violetta and went beautifully with the voice of tenor singer Chingis Ayusheev, who played Violetta’s lover Alfred. It is clear that the two soloists threw their emotion and feeling into the roles of anguished lovers, and performed brilliantly together.

Mezzo- Soprano Galina Malikova was also a pleasure to listen to and the orchestra, conducted by Azat Maksutov was totally flawless.

Accompanied by detailed, period costumes and a strong cast of 12 opera singers, La Traviata at Darlington Civic made for an authentic and real, professional operatic experience of one of the most popular compositions in the world.