San Diego Opera audiences were introduced to Canadian soprano Andriana Chuchman’s talent in 2017, when she played the role of the heartbroken Micaëla in “The Tragédie of Carmen.”
But David Bennett, San Diego Opera’s general director, said they’ll be blown away when the singer returns next weekend as Violetta in the company’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La traviata.” Bennett said the dying courtesan Violetta is a perfect fit for Chuchman’s voice and he’s excited to have her perform here again.
“She has a phenomenal lyric coloratura (voice) that’s stylistically beautiful, and the character of Violetta is in her voice,” Bennett said. “This is the kind of role that really suits her voice.”
That’s music to the ears of Chuchman, who sang her first Violetta with Opera Omaha last year and is eager to play it a second time at three performances Friday through April 27 at the San Diego Civic Theatre.
In a phone interview from her native Winnipeg, Chuchman said her voice has been growing and developing in recent years, and last year she was able to introduce three new roles to her repertoire, including Violetta, which she calls a “dream role.”
“The role requires three different sopranos,” Chuchman said of singing Violetta. “The first act is the vocal fireworks, the coloratura fioritura. The second is so emotional and dramatic and the third is the lyrical fragile soft singing. Of course it’s difficult. It’s one of those roles that requires really good technique and a plan … I’m still in that stage of discovery. I love the process of discovering new things.”
“La traviata” will close San Diego Opera’s 2024-’25 season. Long recognized as the most produced opera in the world, “La traviata” (an Italian phrase for “the fallen woman”) is based on Alexandre Dumas’ play and novel “La Dame aux Camélias.”
It’s the story of Violetta, a courtesan battling tuberculosis in 1850s Paris. She unexpectedly finds true love with a younger man, Alfredo. But when Violetta’s reputation spoils Alfredo’s sister’s chance for a respectable marriage, Violetta sacrifices her own happiness and comfort to appease Alfredo’s disapproving father, Germont.
Co-starring in the production are tenor Zach Borichevsky as Alfredo and bass-baritone Hunter Enoch as Germont. Both men are making their company debut in this production.
The production will be directed and choreographed by Kyle Lang, who helmed last year’s “Don Giovanni,” and San Diego Opera Principal Conductor Yves Abel will lead the San Diego Symphony in the orchestra pit. The rented costumes are coming from Washington National Opera and San Diego Opera’s technical director Tim Wallace is deg the visual production, which will feature high-definition projections mapped on moving scenery “portals.”
Bennett said San Diego Opera is moving away from productions with large-scale scenery and furniture, but not because of the cost savings.
“We’re trying to explore if we get rid of some of the stuff onstage, does that allow us to be better storytellers and does it allow performers to relate to each other more onstage?” Bennett said.
This season was the first where San Diego Opera condensed its productions from two weekends into one by having three performances over three days. Because some vocal roles are very challenging, San Diego Opera has double-cast a few lead roles this season to provide the singers with time for vocal rest.
That won’t be the case for “La Traviata, where Chuchman will sing all three performances as Violetta and is very excited for the opportunity.
“I believe it’ll require really intelligent singing and acting, using the proper technique I have been honing and developing for many years, from maestro in the pit and my colleagues on and off stage, a positive mindset, and of course, adrenaline,” she said.
Born to sing
Chuchman grew up in Winnipeg, where her grandparents immigrated from Ukraine just after World War II. Her father was 3 years old when the family landed in the Manitoba province, and Chuchman said Ukrainian was one of the languages spoken in her home.
As a little girl, she and her older sister started singing Ukrainian pop and folk songs together in public. By 11, she was taking voice lessons and by 12 she was winning prizes at festival competitions.
“It was positive affirmation that I was standing out and doing the right thing,” she said. “Nobody was dragging me on the stage. I loved singing.”
At 17, she started on her voice performance degree at the University of Manitoba and later did two summers in San Francisco’s Merola young artists program and three years in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center artist training program.
She’s been working professionally as an opera singer ever since, except for an unexpected break in 2020-’21 when the pandemic shut down opera houses worldwide and all of her contracts were canceled.
“I had crisis of what am I doing,” she said, but added that the time off was also a blessing. She and her husband, a school principal, had a baby during the pandemic and their son is now 4 years old. “It gave me a really big silver lining at a time that was really depressing.”
An active pickleball player and avid sports fan, Chuchman said she’s enjoying the trajectory of her career, including the opportunity to perform roles in many contemporary operas like Sandrine in Joby Talbot’s “The Diving Bell in the Butterfly” and Mary in Jake Heggie’s “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
A few more dream roles she’s hoping to play some day, including Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin: and the Countess in Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.”
‘The perfect opera’
San Diego resident Kyle Lang is directing “La traviata” for the first time, though he has served as an assistant director and choreographer on the piece in the past, and performed in it many times as a dancer.
He describes it as “the perfect opera” because of the quality of the music, the emotional power of the piece and the fascinating character of Violetta.
“The music is just gorgeous, right from the very first notes of the overture. It’s surreal,” he said. “The music creates such a world of its own and it’s so sophisticated.”
Many of the operas Lang has directed in the past are dramas, tragedies and comedies, where he said he “presses on the gas” to deliver a lot of energy onstage. But for “La traviata,” Lang said he can be more restrained because the drama is in the music and it does all the heavy lifting for you.
Lang said he loves “La traviata” because it’s what he calls Verdi’s first “grown-up opera,” meaning its plot was set in the contemporary world of when it was written, 1853, and its characters were regular people rather than kings or of a royal court.
“This was real life, the verismo world that was so significant with this piece,” Lang said. “You’re dealing with a woman who has accepted facing the end of her life and how successful she had been and already at a place of peace. She did not expect to find love and then she sacrifices everything and is shamed by the person she loves by doing so.”
Because of the relatability of the experiences the characters experience onstage, Lang said “La traviata” has to be approached more authentically during rehearsals and the key to success is open communication.
“The magic in theater has to do with everyone telling the same story,” Lang said of his rehearsal process. “The first thing I’m concerned with is trust and safety. If somebody doesn’t trust you or feel safe in that environment, they won’t allow themselves to feel vulnerable. You can’t have an epic performance if you don’t allow your mind to go there.
My goal is to provide an environment where the actors can be as honest as possible,” he said. “I always say to the cast that I’m happy to be wrong. I just want the right answer. I try to not have ego in the work. At the end of the day, you’re the one giving the performance, not me.”
This production marks the first time Lang has worked with Chuchman and he’s eager to work with her on her ideas for the role.
“I like the facets of Violetta’s personality,” Lang said. “There are such a variety of colors, and the refraction is very different. She is so very strong and then we see her so very vulnerable. Violetta is one of the hardest sings in all of the canon. It take a lot of expertise and comfort in your vocal technique to sing the role.”
Lang said his favorite part of “La traviata” is the heartbreaking final scene, where Alfredo discovers how much Violetta has sacrificed and rushes to her bedside for a reunion.
That is also Chuchman’s favorite moment in the opera and she said she has a hard time performing Violetta’s final song without breaking down in tears.
“Eighty percent of the time I can’t get through it,” Chuchman said. “It’s where she has that hope when he comes back in final act and she gets this burst of energy and hope and joy. She’s so excited and at the pinnacle of happiness, and then she realizes … that all hope is lost.”
‘La traviata’
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. April 27
Where: San Diego Opera at the San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., downtown
Tickets: $35-$260
Online: tickets.sdopera.org/events
