Sung in Italian with projected English translations, “La traviata” will be on stage at Chicago’s Lyric Opera from February 16-March 22, 2019. Verdi’s ambitious “La traviata” completes Verdi’s popular trilogy, the two preceding works being “Rigoletto” and “Il trovatore.” The opera also remains one of the most successful classical works in the repertoire of opera history. After a successful premiere on March 6, 1853, at Teatro La Fenice, “La traviata” has never looked back.

One adaptation after the other, today it stands as one of the most admired of operas universally staged time and again. Alexandre Dumas, on whose novel the opera is based, had said that maybe centuries later his novel would be forgotten, but Verdi has made it immortal.