Ring in the New Year with live music and opera during the festive season of Nights of Lights in St. Augustine, Florida. First Coast Opera will present Verdi’s La Traviata, on stage at 7:30 PM Friday, December 31, and at 2 PM Sunday, January 2 in Lewis Auditorium at Flagler College.

Featuring one of the most iconic, romantic, and tragic scores of all time, Verdi’s masterpiece contrasts spectacular party scenes with tender, intimate moments.

La Traviata tells the story of the tragic love between the courtesan Violetta and the romantic Alfredo Germont. Played out against the hypocrisy of upper-class fashionable society, Alfredo and Violetta’s love threatens to shame his family. When his father directly appeals to Violetta to relinquish her one chance of happiness, Violetta submits and her act of self-sacrifice leads to her paying the ultimate price.

First Coast Opera’s Artistic Director Curtis Tucker will conduct the orchestra. He joined FCO in 2014 after staging productions with Opera Memphis, Mobile Opera, Fresno Grand Opera, Wichita Grand Opera, the University of North Florida Opera Theater, and the University of Mobile Opera Theater. Helena Binder is Stage Director, having directed the 2017 FCO production of Madama Butterfly.

The cast includes Shannon Kessley Dooley playing Violetta Valery, Tenor Jose Simerilla Romero playing Alfredo Germont, Baritone Joshua Jeremiah playing Giorgia Germont, Dan Altman as Barone Douphol, Tyler Putnam as Marquis d’Obigny, Sarah Nordin playing Flora Bervoix, Michael Palmisano as Gastone, and Anthony Offerleas Doctor Grenvil, along with an ensemble of singers/performers.

This is a fully-staged opera with a live orchestra.