U.S. conductor, Arthur Fagen, will lead six functions in Costa Rica of “La Traviata” (literally, The Fallen Woman), the most performed opera in the world.

The 3-act opera by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, with libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, will be performed by the Costa Rican National Lyric Company (CLN) at the Melico Salazar Theater in downtown San José in July.

Fagen serves as the principal director of the Atlanta Opera House, and has more than 70 operatic titles in his repertoire, said the CLN.

The CLN selected nine lyrical singers for the main and minor roles of the staging, which will be performed July 23, 25, 27, 28, and 30, and August 1.

The cast of La Traviata consists of the American soprano, Elizabeth Caballero, in the role of Violetta Valéry, the Italian tenor, Massimiliano Pisapia, in the role of Alfredo Germont, and the remaining singers from Costa Rica in the following roles:
Giorgio Germont, Baritone – Fitzgerald Ramos
Flora Bervoix, mezzo-soprano – Keren Padilla
Annina, soprano – Glenda Juárez
Gastone, tenor – Joaquín Yglesias
Barone Douphol, baritone – José Arturo Chacón
Marchese d’Obigny, bass – Kevin Godinez
Dottore Grenvil, bass – Fulvio Villalobos

“We are very pleased and satisfied with the excellent cast of artists we have gathered to bring to life La Traviata by G. Verdi … two brilliant foreign guest singers join seven excellent Costa Rican artists,” explained José Manuel Aguilar, artistic director of National Lyric Company.

La Traviata will be performed at the Melico Salazar Theater with the participation of the National Symphonic Orchestra and the National Symphonic Choir, said the CLN.

The opera is a tragic love story of Violetta, a courtesan struggling with her health, and Alfredo, who has fallen in love with her, and is described as, “A masterpiece …whose taut plot and vivid characters paired with Verdi’s perfectly attuned music tend to result in few dry eyes by the end of Act III,” by opera critics.