Et varslet dødsfall på Kildens operascene

_{Kari Postma,
soprano}

Når hovedpersonen i «La Traviata» faller om i høst, er det en av verdens mest kjente operascener som utspiller seg.

- IT'S EXCITING to do a role that has so many registers. The cheerful Violetta knows
she's going to die, but lives her life with parties and champagne. But then she finds love," says soprano Kari Postma. Violetta's lover Alfredo Germont is performed by the Danish tenor Adam Frandsen. Her father Giorgio Germont is sung by one of Norway's greatest opera stars, Audun Iversen. The orchestra's regular conductor Giordano Bellincampi is known both for his love of Verdi's music and for being an exceptionally skilled opera conductor.

- "With him as conductor, I think this will be really good. He makes everyone feel safe," says Kari Postma, who sings the lead role.

Innovator, wrangler and romantic

Danish-Italian Giordano Bellincampi describes Verdi as a great innovator of the operatic tradition. Among other things, he worked with the musical dramaturgy in a new way by addressing the librettist, the author who wrote the words to the music.

- Verdi spent his whole life arguing with his librettists. There are thick books of letters where he asks them to cut the text so that the drama comes out more clearly," he says.

Verdi was also an early adopter thematically.

In "La Traviata", the issues of the bourgeoisie are brought to the stage for the first time. But the composer does not judge, he has sympathy for all his protagonists, and trained ears can hear how he shows it when each person is portrayed musically.

- As early as Act 1, when the two lovers speak for the first time, some melodic lines are established that we quickly recognize and associate with the two characters. These melodies return again and again when the two recall their first meeting in love. In this way, the audience is also helped to rediscover the feelings that are established at the start of the opera," explains Bellincampi.

Liberated, not fallen

La Traviata means "the fallen one" in Italian. Opera director Frøydis Lind thinks this is a little unfair.

- "I don't think of Violetta as a prostitute, but as a liberated woman, an enjoyer of life," she says. La Traviata is based on Alexandre Dumas' novel "The Lady of the Camellias", which in turn is based on a true story. And there will be no happy ending.

- It all goes very wrong. Violetta dies of tuberculosis, after having sacrificed a life of luxury in Paris in favor of life in the countryside with her beloved," says Lind. Bellincampi believes that complicated love is one of Verdi's favorite themes.

- He shows us that love sets us free, but that it is also a prison. In "Rigoletto", which Kilden staged in 2015, the main character Gilda is held captive by her overprotective father. That too ends horribly. Once again, the theme is the clash between society and the individual's need to follow love," says KSO's musical director.

Free imagination with concertante opera

Kristiansand Operakor brings life to the festive scenes and is reinforced for the occasion with singing students from UiA, singers from Kristiansand Vokalensemble and hand-picked male voices from Norway and abroad. Like last year's "Rigoletto", the production will be performed in concert, i.e. without costumes or stage design. The performance will be subtitled in Norwegian, and the soloists will be given simple direction, designed by former theater director Ingrid Forthun.

- The direction and text help to convey the action in what is one of the most beautiful and painful love stories I know of," says the opera director.

Conductor Bellincampi believes that a concertante version provides an opportunity for the audience to follow the music and the text undisturbed, and let their imagination work. "Then it's up to the listener to transfer the impressions either to Paris in the 1850s, or to their own everyday life," he concludes.

TEXT KRISTIN ØYGARDEN