"Actor: Charles Castronovo"

• Verdi: La Traviata (Aix-en-Provence, 2011) | DVD | (12/03/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Natalie Dessay made her first European appearances as Violetta in La traviata in a new production by the French director Jean-Franois Sivadier at the 2011 Aix-en-Provence Festival. This DVD captures her intense performance in the company of American tenor Charles Castronovo as Alfredo and French baritone Ludovic Tzier as his father, Giorgio Germont. Her theatrical impact is devastating, wrote the Financial Times. With this new production of La traviata at the 2011 Aix-en-Provence Festival, Natalie Dessay made her first European appearances as Verdi's Violetta, a pinnacle of the soprano repertoire. She made her debut in the role in 2009 at the Santa Fe Festival in the US, and subsequently sang Violetta in Japan. Dessay's 2011-12 season will include La traviata at the Vienna State Opera (in this Aix-en-Provence production by French theatre and opera director Jean-Franois Sivadier) and the New York Metropolitan. Violetta makes tremendous demands on a singer, both vocally and dramatically, and signals Dessay's transition from lighter coloratura roles to the more full-blooded lyric repertoire. I'm tired of playing weeping girls, she told the French magazine Tl 7 Jours, Violetta is a real woman. That makes a nice change! The change was clearly successfully achieved: describing Dessay’s performance, the Financial Times wrote that her theatrical impact is devastating. Sivadier's production was staged in the open air, in Aix-en-Provence's exquisite Thtre de l'Archevch with its huge spiral staircases, medieval arches and 18th-century wings. The stage dcor was minimal, the simple costumes evoked the 1940s or 1950s, and the prime focus was on intense characterisation.

• Becoming Traviata | DVD | (26/05/2014) from £8.85   |  Saving you £7.14 (80.68%)   |  RRP £15.99

  An intimate and fascinating documentary that invites you to go behind the curtains of one of the world's greatest operas Verdi's masterpiece La Traviata. Director Philippe Béziat offers a rare glimpse into the creative process of renowned singers and musicians as they collaborate to produce a contemporary re-telling of this classic opera at the prestigious Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in France. French theatre/opera director Jean-François Sivadier and celebrated Met Opera soprano Natalie Dessay work side by side to tirelessly craft and mould with perfect precision Verdi's heroine Violetta. Dessay's metamorphosis is truly mesmerising. Other collaborators include the London Symphony Orchestra musicians Estonian Philharmonic Choir singers performers lighting technicians and set designers who work in unison to bring to life one magnificent artistic expression. Special Features: Interviews with Jean-François Sivadier Natalie Dessay Louis Langrée Charles Castronovo Ludovic Tézier and director Philippe Béziat