Based on The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas, La Traviata is the story of Parisian courtesan Violetta, who gives up a life of luxury for one of pastoral simplicity (which she is paying for by secretly selling her possessions) for love of the innocent, ardent young Alfredo.

When his father, Germont, asks her to leave Alfredo to prevent his relationship with her from ruining his family, Violetta returns to Paris, although she knows that since she has consumption the life there will kill her.

She makes Alfredo believe that she has left him for her rich former lover and Alfredo, full of hurt and rage, humiliates her publicly and goes abroad. When Violetta is dying alone and in poverty, Alfredo discovers the truth of her sacrifice and comes back, giving her a last moment of happiness, but too late to save her.

Multimedia opera Somnium: screens, strobe lights and strong singing

This is the company’s third staging of Verdi’s much-loved opera. In contrast to the previous version set in the 1950s, director Jean-Louis Grinda returns the opera to the 1850s when it was composed.

The production (first staged at Opera de Monte Carlo, where Grinda is general director) has a number of original ideas, some of which work well, others less so. Overall, it is well paced and focuses firmly on the leading characters, telling the story clearly and putting the singers and the music centre stage.

Nice touches include having the whole chorus, male and female, in the Act 1 party scene wearing black evening suits, with Violetta in a sumptuous red dress standing out as the centre of attention, and using the usually minor character of Doctor Grenvil as a connecting thread through many different scenes.

On the other hand, the opening sequence set to the overture is totally misjudged: Violetta is shown sick in bed in what is clearly a brothel, and her ball gown also has a slit that shows her legs up to the thigh in public. She is a high-class courtesan, not a street walker.

This contradicts the opera’s text – why would someone who has plenty of money (the maid Annina mentions her selling her “horses and carriages” to support her life with Alfredo) take refuge in a common brothel?

Similarly going against the text is the dance sequence at the beginning of Act 3, where a lone female dancer is abused by a group of men for the entertainment of the wealthy party guests, who revel in her terror.

Presumably the idea is to show how callous and decadent this society is, but it is directly contradicted by what follows, when the same guests express outrage at Alfredo’s brutal treatment of Violetta (who, after all, is no more one of them than the gypsy dancer).

The sequence is cleverly choreographed by Eugénie Andrin and extremely well performed by the Edge ’n Pointe dance group, but its ugliness is disturbing and seems gratuitous in this context.

Any La Traviata ultimately depends on its Violetta, and Gimadieva displayed her consummate mastery of the role, which she has performed with such major companies as the Opera National de Paris and Britain’s Royal Opera.

Her command of the stage and ability to bring out every detail of Violetta’s journey were mesmerising, with each emotional milestone making an impact.

Vocally she was equally flawless, from the glittering, effortless power of her coloratura singing in Act 1, through the simple lyricism of her encounter with Germont in Act 2 to the delicate, febrile quality she brings to her voice in the death scene; all were quite extraordinary.

The scene in Act 1 where Violetta is torn between sticking with her old, successful life and abandoning everything to love and be loved by Alfredo is a test of any soprano’s vocal and dramatic staying power – Gimadieva brought it to life, making it real and riveting throughout.

Her Alfredo was Australian-Chinese tenor Kang Wang – a rising star of the international opera scene, he has a voice ideally suited to Verdi: warm, dark-toned and full-bodied. His lyrical yet powerful singing was matched by fine acting, especially in Act 3, where he conveyed Alfredo’s rage and pain with heartfelt passion and intensity.

The performance was lifted further by Stephen Powell’s splendidly sung and intelligently acted Germont. The character can easily come over as a self-righteous stuffed shirt, here Powell showed us a man who truly loves his son, is trying to do the right thing and is ultimately tormented by remorse at the tragedy his actions have caused.

A special word for Freddie Tong in making Doctor Grenvil a pivotal character with so little to work with (hopefully next time this fine young Hong Kong bass baritone will have more singing) and for Rachel Kwok’s touching Annina.

The Opera Hong Kong chorus continue to make strong progress – the power, precision and tone of the final chorus in Act 3 was particularly impressive.

Opera Hong Kong: La Traviata, Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre, Reviewed: Oct. 9, 2022