WHEN audiences gather for Hurn Court Opera’s La Traviata on 16th April at Christchurch Regent Centre, 18th at the Coade Hall at Bryanston School and 20th at Winchester Theatre Royal, they will see striking and original costumes designed by students at Arts University Bournemouth.
The new creative partnership between the opera company, a Dorset-based arts charity and the theatre skills and arts university, providing valuable experience to young people both on and behind the stage.
Hurn Court Opera exists to champion rising opera stars at the beginning of their careers, providing them with training and performance opportunities. It is almost entirely self-funded, relying on ticket sales, donations and sponsorship.
Following a successful collaboration during the charity’s production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola last year, third year students of AUB’s BA (Hons) degree in costume are once again creating more than 25 costumes for this year’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata.
La Traviata is a timelessly tragic tale of love, loss and societal expectation, telling the story of Violetta, a high-class courtesan and her passionate love affair with the young nobleman, Alfredo. Based on the novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas and originally set in 19th century Paris, the opera receives a 1930s makeover in Hurn Court Opera’s production.
“Setting La Traviata in Paris in the 1930s renders it easier to have on the stage of the regional theatres we visit. All those 19th century crinolines would take up so much space!” Says theatre cirector, Joy Robinson, who founded the opera company with her husband Lynton Atkinson. “So, it’s from a practical point of view that we are moving it to the thirties – but it’s also a time when we can still convey that notion of the ‘kept woman’ and that feeling of being in a demi-monde, a world living in the shadows.
“The beauty of our collaboration with AUB is that we have a team of incredibly talented young costume makers behind the stage supporting an equally talented cast of young performers on stage. We can’t wait for our audiences to see the costumes when La Traviata opens in April – they are going to look absolutely stunning!”
AUB senior lecturer Wayne Martin says, “Our BA (Hons) Costume degree teaches the mastery of couture, professional costume making, tailoring and supervision for both film and theatre. Working to a ‘live’ brief from Hurn Court Opera, our third year costume students have had a wonderful opportunity to create 1930s Arts Deco costumes as well as collaborate with young artists from the world of opera.”
The cast of rising opera stars for La Traviata includes Caroline Taylor as tragic heroine Violetta, Sam Britner as Alfredo and Philip Kalmanovitch as Giorgio, Alfredo’s disapproving father.
Featuring the timelessly beautiful music of Giuseppe Verdi and themes that are still painfully relevant today, La Traviata is perfect for both seasoned opera fans and those experiencing opera for the first time. It is a fully staged production with orchestra conducted by Lynton Atkinson, sung in Italian with English surtitles.
Hurn Court Opera was founded in 2017 with the aim of providing high quality performance and training opportunities for the vocal stars of tomorrow. The company’s fully staged operas visit theatres across Dorset and Hampshire each year, while its Singer of the Year competition, run in collaboration with The Grange Festival, provides an important platform for young vocal talent.