Newsday, September 2004

"You smell the stench of death when her 'Sempre libera' bursts forth, and the fragrance of champagne around her deathbed." So wrote novelist Alessandro Baricco of Maria Callas, one of the greatest interpreters of Violetta Valéry, the consumptive prostitute and title character of Verdi's La traviata.

In Maria Kanyova, City Opera's revival of La traviata has a protagonist who, like Callas, captures the many dimensions of Violetta's character: her recklessness, vulnerability and fierce, against-all-odds fight for love and life. Kanyova is relatively new to this taxing role and still needs to grow into aspects of it: the Act II duet with Germont, for example, wants a more inward contour. Her fine lyric soprano, too, lacks the satin-and-pearls glamour that Ruth Ann Swenson and Renée Fleming (two distinguished Met Violettas of recent years) lavish upon Verdi's music.

Still, Kanyova brings her own strengths to the part. From her first appearance, her drawn face and nervous, fluttery movements foreshadow Violetta's doom. Vocally, she is mistress of Verdi's myriad demands, sure in the pyrotechnics of Act I (aside from an ill-advised high E-flat), spinning a luminous line in the Act II finale and capping "Addio del passato" with a floating, diaphanous sigh. Kanyova's Violetta is absent, lost in contemplation of Alfredo's devotion, as her party guests depart in Act I, but remains a coquette in her last throes of illness, pinning a flower to her hair when her doctor is announced. She dares to hope in "Parigi, o cara," flailing like a wounded animal when her strength fails, and she dies staggering toward her window and the light of day.

Baritone Michael Corvino, City Opera's Germont, has a workmanlike voice that he deploys with care and intelligence. He found precise, telling accents for the different moods of "Di Provenza"—guilt, nostalgia, entreaties to his son's honor—and caressed the aria's second verse in tender half-tints. The quiet dignity and sadness Corvino brought to Germont's rebuke of Alfredo at Flora's soirée redeemed this sometimes- unconvincing moment in Verdi's drama.

Making his City Opera debut as Alfredo, tenor Robert Breault got off to a rough start, with clipped phrases and bizarre enunciation, but he improved as the performance unfolded, turning in his best singing during Alfredo's public meltdown in Act II.

Standouts among the strongly cast supporting roles included Kathryn Friest (Flora), Seth Malkin (d'Obigny) and Rod Nelman (Grenvil).

Renata Scotto's intimate 1995 staging, with sets and costumes by Thierry Bosquet and sparkling choreography by Esperanza Galan, stands up well against the behemoth Franco Zeffirelli Traviata on view across the plaza.

Music director George Manahan led a sensibly brisk performance, with some scrappy playing and lapses in ensemble and first-rate contributions from the City Opera chorus.

LA TRAVIATA. Music by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. Performed by the New York City Opera Orchestra and Chorus, George Manahan conducting. Seen Friday at Lincoln Center. Visit www.nycopera.com or call 212-307-4100.