Opera «La Traviata»

   One of Italy’s oldest opera houses is coming to Hanoi with its entire company: soloists, orchestra, chorus and the creative team behind the staging. This is not a few guest voices backed by a local ensemble — it is a production moved to a Vietnamese stage in one piece, exactly as it runs at home.

   The work is «La Traviata» by Giuseppe Verdi, first performed in 1853 at La Fenice in Venice, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on Alexandre Dumas fils’ novel «La Dame aux camélias». It follows Violetta Valéry, a Parisian courtesan who gives up love to protect another family’s reputation and dies of consumption. The opening night failed; a revised version a year later succeeded, and the score has stayed in the repertoire for more than 170 years, ranking among the most performed operas in the world.

   What the evening brings:

• — the full forces of Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi di Trieste — soloists, orchestra, chorus and creative team;
• — the staging and set design travel with the company rather than being rebuilt locally;
• — the score’s best-known numbers: the drinking song «Libiamo ne’ lieti calici», Violetta’s «Sempre libera» and «Addio del passato»;
• — a running time of about two hours, with a 15-minute interval.

   If you already follow opera, the draw is the Italian reading of Verdi: phrasing, tempi and orchestral colour that come from the same tradition as the score itself. If this would be your first opera, «La Traviata» is the easiest way in — three acts, a plot that needs no footnotes, and tunes you have almost certainly heard in films and adverts without knowing where they came from.

   The Trieste house is tied to Verdi by more than its name. It opened in 1801 and was renamed after the composer in 1901, immediately after his death. Two of his operas had their world premieres on that stage: «Il corsaro» in 1848 and «Stiffelio» in 1850, three years before «La Traviata».

   The host is Nhà hát Hồ Gươm, one of the newest large halls in the capital. It opened in 2023 and has since become one of Hanoi’s main addresses for touring opera and ballet. It stands in Hoàn Kiếm, a short walk south of Hoan Kiem Lake, which puts the Old Quarter and most central hotels within a ten-minute taxi ride. In 2025 the same house staged «La Traviata» together with the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet (Nhà hát Nhạc Vũ Kịch Việt Nam); this time the production arrives complete from Italy.

   Tickets come in four price tiers: VND 1,500,000, 2,500,000, 3,500,000 and 5,000,000. Tickets.

   The organisers keep a separate English-language line for enquiries: 0913 489 858.

   A complete Italian opera company rarely makes it as far as Hanoi — if you have been putting off your first night at the opera, this is a sensible place to start.