LA TRAVIATA | Ouverture Opera, Sion

A very pleasant surprise in an unexpected place

Sometimes you go to an opera with very high expectations. And sometimes you simply show up, not really knowing what to expect, and leave with a completely different set of memories than the ones you imagined.

That was my first experience with Ouverture Opéra in Sion.

To be completely honest, I had never attended the festival before. Shame on me. I knew they had presented The Magic Flute, Dido and Aeneas, La Bohème and several other productions over the years, but somehow, despite being so close to home, I had never made it there.

This time, however, there was no excuse.

Verdi was being performed. And when Verdi is being performed somewhere near me, I simply have to go.

You already know my motto: wherever Verdi is, I am.

So I arrived in Sion expecting, more or less, a pleasant evening in an unusual venue. The performance takes place in a former industrial space, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the combination of opera, an orchestra on stage and a venue that is obviously very different from a traditional opera house.

Well… what a lovely surprise.

The moment the music started, the surroundings almost disappeared.

With the exception of the venue itself and the orchestra being positioned on stage, there were moments when I could easily have imagined myself sitting in a small theatre somewhere in Italy or France. The audience area is arranged on fairly steep tiers, with what I would estimate to be somewhere around 300 to 400 seats, and the acoustics were surprisingly good.

Actually, that was one of the things I enjoyed most about the evening: the feeling that this wasn’t trying to imitate a major opera house. It was simply making the best possible use of the space available, and it worked.

And then there was La Traviata.

I had already seen Vibe Rouvet in recital at HEMU, so I was particularly happy to discover that she would be singing Violetta. There is something very natural about her voice in this repertoire, and the role suited her beautifully.

Her performance also benefited enormously from Olivia Seigne’s staging, particularly during the first act. The idea of having the chairs gradually arranged in front of Violetta so that she can walk across them was simple but visually effective, and gave the opening of the opera a real sense of movement despite the limited space.

Vibe Rouvet was particularly impressive in Sempre libera. There was a real sense of freedom in the upper register, and she handled those demanding passages with confidence. Considering how early she still is in her career, there is clearly a lot to look forward to.

Opposite her, Gianmarco Durante made a very strong impression as Giorgio Germont.

Another young artist for whom I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, and another very pleasant discovery. He has a beautiful voice, with the kind of natural presence that immediately works in Verdi. But what I particularly enjoyed were his scenes with Alfredo. The father-son relationship came across very naturally, and their duets had some of the most convincing musical exchanges of the evening.

Teddy Métriau completed the central trio as Alfredo. Another young singer who was new to me, and someone I was happy to discover. I particularly enjoyed his quieter moments and his way of handling the more conversational passages, where his musicality remained very present even when the vocal writing became less demonstrative. His upper register was also particularly effective.

As is often the case with La Traviata, the smaller roles don’t necessarily have a huge amount of space to make an impression. The opera belongs so strongly to its central trio that everyone else has to work within fairly limited margins.

Nevertheless, the supporting cast brought plenty of commitment to the evening, with Lauriane Paillet as Flora Bervoix, Véronique Marty as Annina, Valérian Bitschnau as Gastone, Benoît Déchelotte as Baron Douphol, Michael Temporal Darell as the Marquis d’Obigny and Manuel Pollinger as Doctor Grenvil.

But what deserves particular credit is the staging.

Olivia Seigne managed to create a production that remained lively and readable without needing enormous sets or spectacular effects. In a space like this, that is no small achievement. Nothing felt unnecessarily complicated and, most importantly, I never found myself looking at my watch.

Quite the opposite.

There was something rather refreshing about seeing a production built around the music and the performers, while still giving the evening enough theatrical life to avoid feeling like a concert.

And perhaps that is ultimately what I will remember from this first visit to Ouverture Opéra.

I arrived without particularly high expectations, simply because I didn’t really know what I was going to find.

I left with a very good evening, several new names in my notebook and the feeling that I had discovered something that had been sitting practically on my doorstep without me paying enough attention to it.

And then there is one final detail which I absolutely love: the festival’s performances are sold out.

Every production. Every date.

That’s wonderful news, because once again, it proves something I keep seeing everywhere I travel: people still want opera. They want to hear La Traviata, they want to experience live music, they want to go to the theatre and they want to share these evenings with other people.

Sometimes the best surprises aren’t found 600 kilometres away, sometimes they’re right next door.

A huge thank you to everyone at Ouverture Opéra for this beautiful evening, for the work behind the production and for bringing Verdi to Sion. I’m looking forward to know which opera will be play next year !

CAST

Violetta Valéry — Vibe Rouvet
Flora Bervoix — Lauriane Paillet
Annina — Véronique Marty
Alfredo Germont — Teddy Métriau
Giorgio Germont — Gianmarco Durante
Gastone — Valérian Bitschnau
Baron Douphol — Benoît Déchelotte
Marquis d’Obigny — Michael Temporal Darell
Doctor Grenvil — Manuel Pollinger