Anna Netrebko & Rolando Villazón sing La Traviata

0000: In this internationally acclaimed performance of La Traviata, Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón shine as a couple, playing to everyone's fantasy.

Salzburg 2005 - Verdi's Traviata is a smash hit: never before have opera stars been so seemingly close enough to touch, never before so present in the media. It is not the first time that lead performers Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón would take the stage together - but it is here in Salzburg that they would finally become superstars. On their own, but above all as a couple on stage, they give wings to the audience's fantasies.

Willy Decker's modern production gives Netrebko and Villazón - alias Violetta and Alfredo - the space they need to perform.

The young Violetta lives a fast-paced life in Paris as a nobleman's courtesan. But she is sick and knows she will soon die - only now she has fallen in love for the first time.

A tragic story, brought to the stage in Salzburg in perhaps a more contemporary and tangible performance than ever before. The two main protagonists share their emotions with the audience 15 years after this legendary performance. Willy Decker invites us to take a look behind the scenes; rare film footage of the rehearsals gives an intimate and personal insight into what the atmosphere was like on set. Young French soprano Erminie Blondel talks about her admiration for opera's dream couple. La Traviata in Salzburg 2005: A celebration of the highest form of singing and of realist performance.

Duration 43 minutes
Director Anaïs Spiro
Producer Claus Wischmann
Editor Christopher Janssen
Production Company ZDF/ARTE, sounding images