‘La Traviata’ May Whet Local Appetite for Opera

A new orchestra’s inaugural season is, necessarily, one packed with firsts. Last weekend, the new New West Symphony, in collaboration with Opera San Jose, made its first foray into the wonderful, irrational world of opera, with its presentation of “La Traviata.” The results: generally pleasing and sometimes moving.

Opera being a rare visitor to Ventura County, the goal here was a more-with-less scenario--to make the most of mobile resources that took the performance from the Oxnard Civic Auditorium on Friday to the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza on Saturday. Verdi’s tuneful and immortally beloved opera appeared in the truncated, de-theatricalized form of an abridged “concert version.”

Only threadbare suggestions of sets, period costumes and the dramatic wiles of the performers--aided by supertitles--gave a sense of the splendor and fragile social fabric of 19th-century Paris.

Then again, “La Traviata,” a pillar of 19th-century Romanticism that pivots on the nobility of suffering and the blinding force of love, is hardly concerned with realism. Socio-historical settings aside, it’s a timeless expression of surging passions intruded upon by chilly realities.

Verdi’s festive and plaintive work now seems to be a sturdy operatic staple, a symbol of cultural certainty. Funny how history has its way of changing perspectives. “La Traviata”--which can be roughly translated as “The Transgressor”--premiered in 1853 to mixed reactions, including controversy over the presumed moral ambiguity of the story, adapted from Alexandre Dumas’ play.

La Fenice, the venerable opera house in Venice where the opera premiered, burned to the ground two months ago, a blow to the opera community and a reminder of the way of all flesh and wooden edifices. But the opera’s palatable sentiments and sanitized social critiques are alive and well nearly a century and a half later, on stages from Venice to Thousand Oaks.

The local angle was strong here. Cynthia Clayton, a Thousand Oaks native who has worked with Opera San Jose for three years, had a rousing homecoming with her compelling presence as the heroine Violetta, a noble and beleaguered courtesan, a.k.a. prostitute. Clayton brought focused energy and gorgeous vocal textures to a role that demands a passionate voice throughout the wavering emotional contours. Violetta runs a course from hope to ecstasy to the dull pain of social stigma to suffering, of the physical sort.

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Unlike some of the more complex plots in opera, “La Traviata” is a relatively simple story. Its heroine suffers and then fades into righteous oblivion, redeemed in the 11th hour when loves walks in.

As the love interest, tenor Matthew P. Kirchner brought forth a rich, sleek tone in his role as Alfredo Germont, the reputable Parisian whose affection for Violetta arouses suspicion. Especially notable and sonorous in this ensemble was Mel Ulrich, as Alfredo’s father, Giorgio, who effectively steers Violetta away from his son, and later wallows in regret.

From the prescient, murmuring melancholy of the opening through its dance-feverish frothiness and elegant brooding of the finale, New West maestro Boris Brott led an efficient, reduced orchestral ensemble.

Opera San Jose, directed by Daniel Helfgot, is one of the reliable and respected West Coast outposts ensuring the survival of opera. Their ongoing link as a satellite operation in Ventura County is encouraging.

Judging from the large, enthusiastic audience, which applauded at virtually every pause, there seems to be an operatic appetite here deserving greater attention. Perhaps it’s time for more full-scale productions and more than one opera per symphonic season. Perhaps it’s time for sets.

Yet, even in the definitively limited format of this concert version, Violetta’s story rang out with an emotional power that gave Romanticism a good name. Right here in our backyard.