WNO's Young Artists Revel in 'La Traviata'

Although Verdi was 40 when "La Traviata" premiered, this is a young people's opera, filled with emotional intensity and based on the life of a storied courtesan who died at age 23. For modern audiences, it is also a gateway opera, an excellent introduction for people unfamiliar with the form.

So Verdi's 1853 melodrama seems a perfect fit both for a cast drawn from the Washington National Opera's Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program and for an audience of ages 18 to 35 -- the primary target of Monday night's sold-out Kennedy Center performance. Indeed, the crowd was polite and enthusiastic -- and better dressed than many older opera audiences nowadays. And the performance, although it had its rough spots, was mostly satisfying.

It is tempting for young singers to make a big splash with the bright first act, often leaving them with little voice by the finale. Elizabeth Andrews Roberts (Violetta) and Yingxi Zhang (Alfredo) went the opposite way: Their voices sounded pinched in Act 1, as if they needed warming up, but by Act 3 they were warm and mellow -- resulting in Violetta sounding her best while breathing her last.

Plácido Domingo himself conducted, offering generally supportive, fluid phrasing. But the orchestra tended to overwhelm Roberts and Zhang at first.

Roberts's thin, light, pleasant voice was not quite up to "Sempre libera," although she acted the scene well, showing Violetta plagued by doubts. And Zhang's "Un di felice" was more declamatory than passionate. However, by Act 2, the lead singers had settled into their roles.

The act's second scene boasted the best set -- the home of Flora (an expressive Cynthia Hanna) all in red and black. And Zhang's confrontation with Baron Douphol (an appropriately haughty James Shaffran) was well staged. In Act 3, though, the direction by Marta Domingo (Plácido's wife) was odd, including an altar-like bed and a dream-scene "dance of death" for Violetta. But Roberts's heart-wrenching "Addio del passato" was memorable.

"La Traviata" revolves around, in Alfredo's words, "the youthful ardor of my fiery spirits." Monday night's performance smoldered rather than blazed, but it was ardent enough to be warmly inviting to first-timers in the audience.