Review The Santa Fe Opera opened its 2024 season on a hot, humid Friday night with a new staging of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata . Much of the evening’s heat seemed to transfer into the production, which was highly satisfying in almost every category. One thing is certain — this may be the most propulsive La Traviata you’ll ever see and hear.
The conducting of Corrado Rovaris, the directorial and design concept, and the spellbinding performance of Mané Galoyan in the title role combined to give it an inexorable sense of tragic inevitability. It’s also one of the most visually stunning productions of recent memory, especially when set against the Santa Fe sunset as the opera begins, thanks to Christopher Oram’s scenic and costume designs and Marcus Doshi’s lighting. Stage director Louisa Muller is making her SFO mainstage debut with the production, although she has staged apprentice scenes and served as an assistant director here for several seasons.
The design concept she developed with Oram and Doshi is notable not only for its beauty but also for how it simultaneously solved problems and created arresting new opportunities. Part of it comes from setting the action in 1939 Paris, an era of frenzied decadence as everyone knew what was about to transpire. There’s nary a crinoline or a tailcoat in sight at the two parties; the clothes are fashionable and slim, sometimes racy in the first and wildly over the top in the second, as homemade costumes for a party a.