Germany Verdi, La traviata: Soloists, Chorus of Bremerhaven Municipal Theatre, Bremerhaven Philharmonic / Marc Niemann (conductor). Bremerhaven Municipal Theatre, 16.4.2026. (DM-D)
This La traviata is set in contemporary Paris. Violetta is a refugee from Ukraine with two small children. The programme notes thus substantiated video footage projected onto a screen for the preludes to Act I (her journey to and arrival in Paris) and Act III (her and her children’s happy times with Alfredo. She is obliged to earn her living as a high-end escort. She attends the notorious parties of her friend Flora, where she first meets Alfredo. The chorus in this production represents death, the chorus members dressed in black, looming in the background, wafting forward toward Violetta at moments when she feels weak. They are invisible to the other characters and whisk Violetta away the moment she dies. The final act is set in the barren corridor of a hospital. Dr Genvil is a junior doctor who has no time for the dying patient Violetta, glancing at his watch repeatedly. Her memories of snippets of her life come back to her not only in the music and the words, but also with respective parts of the set being flown in from above, never reaching the ground, and disappearing again as needed.
The production provided Victoria Kunze in the title role with plenty of opportunity to display her passionate acting, for which she has become well-loved by Bremerhaven audiences since joining the resident company at the start of the 2028/19 season. The love she feels for her children, her concern for them while fleeing to Paris, her happiness with and for them during the happy times with Alfredo are as palpable as her physical suffering, her being beleaguered by the representatives of death and her agony at having to give Alfredo up for the sake of the happiness of his sister. The production made sure that these feelings were and remained moving throughout the evening, never entering the realm of sentimentality. Marc Niemann’s reading of the score contributed to this overall impact: all the expected moods were carried very well indeed, but without any tendency towards flat emotion or the doom of tragedy, and he eschewed any embellishing of the music with additional melodramatic sobs.
Vocally, Kunze is clearly ready for the role; praise must go to her and the music theatre team in Bremerhaven for judicious career planning. The voice was supple, rich and warm across the range, allowing her to shape the coloratura on that firm, solid basis. As a result, her thrilling top notes sounded effortless, and the audience shared the relish she clearly felt when she produced them.
Weilian Wang as Alfredo, who joined the resident company at the beginning of the current season, stood out through the versatile use of his voice. He made good use of crescendo and diminuendo and transitioned well from full voice to mezza voce and back. His singing was suitably ardent, with ringing top notes. Marcin Hutek, member of the Bremerhaven resident company since the 2020/21 season, was believable as Alfredo’s father in his being torn by the need to end the relationship between Alfredo and Violetta for the sake of the family’s name, his appreciation of Violetta as a potentially viable partner for his son, and his remorse at the end, when it was too late. Hutek used his firm, sonorous baritone to good effect to get his character’s emotions across. Company soloists Boshana Milkov (Flora), Andrew Irwin (Gaston) and Timothy Edlin (Dr Grenvil) made the most of their few lines each, as did chorus members James Bobby, Masahiro Yamada, Paula Meyer, Gustavo Oliva, Anton Kononchenko and Daniel Dimitrov in their solo roles. The chorus, led by Edward Mauritius Münch, was equally strong.
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe
Featured Image: [l-r] Timothy Edlin (Dr Grenvil), Andrew Irwin (Gaston), Weilian Wang (Alfredo), Victoria Kunze (Violetta), Masahiro Yamada (Marquis d’Obigny), James Bobby (Baron Douphol) and Boshana Milkov (Flora) © Heiko Sandelmann
Production:
Director – Katharina Kastening
Set and costume design – Matthias Kronfuss
Lighting design – Daniel Lang
Movement and Intimacy coordinator – Evie Poaros
horus director – Edward Mauritius Münch
Dramaturgy – Torben Selk
Cast:
Violetta – Victoria Kunze
Alfredo – Weilian Wang
Georgio Germont – Marcin Hutek
Flora – Boshana Milkov
Gaston – Andrew Irwin
Baron Douphol – James Bobby
Marquis d’Obigny – Masahiro Yamada
Dr Grenvil – Timothy Edlin
Annina – Paula Meyer
Giuseppe – Gustavo Oliva
Flora’s servant – Anton Kononchenko