The Glenn Korff School of Music’s opera program will be going on tour in Nebraska with three performances of Verdi’s “La Traviata” in March in Ord, Scottsbluff and Lincoln.
The performances will be held:
• Sunday, March 5 at 3:00 p.m. at The Golden Husk Theatre, Ord, Nebraska. For ticket information, visit https://www.goldenhuskarts.org.
• Wednesday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m. at North Star High School Auditorium, Lincoln, Nebraska (free and open to the public).
• Saturday, March 25 at 7:00 p.m. at The Midwest Theater, Scottsbluff, Nebraska. For ticket information, visit https://midwesttheater.com.
The tour is made possible by The James C. and Rhonda Seacrest Tour Nebraska Opera Fund.
“La Traviata” is one of the most beloved theatrical works of all time, combining a romantic story with memorable music. Verdi's vibrant masterpiece contrasts spectacular party scenes with tender, intimate moments.
It tells the story of the tragic love between the courtesan Violetta and the romantic Alfredo Germont. Played out against the hypocrisy of upper-class fashionable society, Alfredo and Violetta’s love threatens to shame his family. When his father directly appeals to Violetta to relinquish her one chance of happiness, Violetta submits in an act of heart wrenching self-sacrifice, making her one of opera’s most glorious heroines, a woman of boundless humanity and emotional depth.
UNL Opera's touring production of “La Traviata” features an evocative projection design created by the university’s Emerging Media Arts faculty. Staged by Glenn Korff School of Music Assistant Professor of Music Suna Gunther, the opera will be presented with costumes and singing by UNL Opera voice students, accompanied by a chamber ensemble enhancing the intimacy of the story. The opera will be sung in its original Italian, with English supertitles.
Glenn Korff School of Music Larson Professor of Music and Director of Opera William Shomos began to realize his dream of touring opera through rural Nebraska in 2016 with a touring production of “The Marriage of Figaro” throughout the state.
In addition to “Figaro,” UNL Opera has toured productions of “The Ballad of Baby Doe,” “The Tender Land” and “Amahl and the Night Visitors” across Nebraska, including performances in Friend, Ord, Wayne, Norfolk, Central City, Red Cloud and North Platte.
In 2019, UNL Opera presented the world premiere of Tyler White's “The Gambler's Son” in Cozad, Nebraska--the locale of that opera's setting. After a brief delay due to the constraints of the Covid pandemic, UNL Opera's touring program resumed in December 2021 in a collaboration with the Ord community to produce “Amahl and the Night Visitors” at the Golden Husk Theatre. This season's production of “La Traviata” returns UNL Opera to Ord's Golden Husk as well as a first-time engagement with Scottsbluff's Midwest Theatre.
The James C. and Rhonda Seacrest Tour Nebraska Opera Fund is dedicated to supporting the production, promotion, travel and other expenses incurred for outreach opera events, both artistic and educational, across Nebraska, especially in rural venues.
For more information, visit https://events.unl.edu/music/2023/03/.