'La Traviata' Opening Friday at Solon Center for the Arts

Giuseppe Verdi’s beloved opera "La Traviata" will open at Solon Center for the Arts this Friday.

The opera will begin at 7:30 p.m. It will also run at 3 p.m. Sunday and at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 6.

SCA’s production receives public support with local tax dollars from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, to preserve and enrich our region’s artistic and cultural heritage.

The show stars Northeast Ohio’s brightest and best talents including Marian Vogel as Violetta Valéry, Timothy M.R. Culver as Alredo Germont, Brian Keith Johnson as Giorgio Germont and Kimberly Lauritsen as Flora Bervoix. It is directed by one of America’s most versatile and popular stage directors, Jonathon Field. The SCA Opera Orchestra will be conducted by Maria Sensi Sellner from Pittsburgh.

“La Traviata” is in partnership with Kent State University’s Hugh A. Glauser School of Music Opera Workshop. Additional support is from Friends of Solon Center for the Arts and the Founding Members of the Signature Series.

"Usually opera is experienced in a big theater with thousands of seats," said Karen Prasser, the former executive director of SCA in a news release. "Solon’s intimate 200-seat theater brings you closer to knowing each character and the beautiful but frail Violetta, who abandons her feverish life of pleasure for the love of Alfredo, only to sacrifice her love at the persistence of Alfredo’s father. I believe that the beauty of the music and the drama of the romantic tragedy in the SCA theater will bring a new meaning to one of the world’s most popular opera. It is a theatrical and musical experience not to be missed!"

Tickets are $25 and $20 for seniors and students. All seats are reserved and each performance includes an Opera Preview 45-minutes prior to curtain in the SCA Gallery and a ‘Meet the Artists’ reception immediately following.

Solon Center for the Arts is located at 6315 SOM Center Road on the corner of SOM and Bainbridge Roads in Solon.  For more information or tickets, call (440) 337-1400.