University music fans: prepare to get cultured. The Italian Opera “La Traviata” will be performed Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. by the LSU Opera in the Union Theater. Dugg McDonough, director of the School of Music’s opera program, which produces a major opera each semester, sang the praises of the legendary opera coming to the Union Theater stage. “‘La Traviata’ is one of the greatest masterpieces of opera, and that alone is a great reason for doing it,” McDonough said. Since its first performance in 1853, “La Traviata,” written by the Italian master of opera Giuseppe Verdi, has become one of the most popular operas of all time. “La Traviata” was third on the list of the 20 most performed operas in North America, according to operaamerica.org. McDonough said the opera will be a challenge for his students to perform. “It’s unusual for ‘La Traviata’ to be done in a university,” McDonough said. “Most university programs don’t have the quality of performers that we have to pull off a work of this fame and of this vocal magnitude, so we’re very proud.” Most people would have trouble naming any famous opera songs, but most, even those who know nothing about opera, immediately recognize famous melodies when they hear them, McDonough said. “They may have heard the melodies outside the world of opera,” McDonough said. “But this has a lot of very famous melodies, and when people hear those melodies, they realize how they start, and they put them together with this incredibly wonderful story.” Brandon Hendrickson, music doctoral student, is excited about the opportunity to play the lead baritone role. “I never in my life thought that I would have the opportunity to perform the role of Germont at such an early age, but it’s been quite an undertaking and a privilege to work on a great piece of opera,” Hendrickson said. The opera is in Verdi’s native Italian, which makes the performance a challenge for many student singers. Daniel Anderson, a vocal performance senior in the lead tenor role, said singing in Italian becomes more natural with experience. “If you would have asked me [about singing in Italian] four years ago, I would have told you it was pretty ridiculous,” Anderson said. “But as I become more familiar with the repertoire and start learning it’s really about Italian opera, I love it.” An English translation will be provided in supertitles, which will be projected onto a screen above the stage. “It would be naive to believe that the average person that comes to an opera is anything close to fluent in Italian, German or French,” McDonough said. This is not the first performance of “La Traviata” by the LSU opera. In 1938, the LSU Opera performed “La Traviata” in New Orleans. “The performance took New Orleans by storm,” said a 1938 review in The Item, a New Orleans newspaper. “It turned an ordinarily mildly appreciative audience into a hysterical mob that not only applauded but stamped and shouted.” McDonough encouraged students to check out “La Traviata.” “Come, give it a chance,” persuades McDonough. “It’s a great, great first opera to experience.” Tickets start at $15 for adults and $10 for students.
—-Contact James Hunter at [email protected]