At 64, diva returns to ‘Traviata’ heroine

Associated Press

VIENNA

At the dizzying heights of her operatic career, Edita Gruberova has unexpectedly chosen to return to the role that helped make her famous.

In reprising Violetta Valery of Verdi’s “La Traviata” (The Fallen Woman) for the first time in more than a decade, the Queen of Coloratura is in some ways retracing her initial steps to stardom. But when she first sang Violetta 42 years ago, enchanting the audience in the tiny provincial theater of the Czech town of Banska Bystrica, she was barely out of her teens. Now she’s 64 — but the grandmother of three sees no problem in returning to the role of a 20-something.

“I love Violetta as much as ever,” she told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

A full, scenic performance in November in Hamburg, Germany, was followed earlier this month by concert stagings in Munich and in Vienna in what was billed as her last appearance in the role.

Last week’s sold-out performance in the gilt concert hall of the Vienna Musikverein was repeatedly interrupted by tumultuous applause and brava calls, despite small signs of wear in Gruberova’s lower registers and intonation.

The fact that she makes her love affair with Pavol Breslik in the role of Alfredo totally believable — even though the Slovak tenor is about half her age — attests to her magnificent dramatic and vocal skills.

“La Gruberova was in total control of events and breathed life into the role.