In 2012, during the first season of the theatre’s historic building after a large‑scale renovation, the renowned opera director Francesca Zambello presented her version of *La Traviata*. By that time, she had already staged Puccini’s *Turandot* and Prokofiev’s *The Fiery Angel* at the Bolshoi.
«La Traviata» is undoubtedly one of the greatest operas ever written, and one of the most important works of the so‑called «middle period» in Verdi’s oeuvre. For the first time, the composer based the opera on a modern, popular book that shocked society, rather than on a myth or, say, a Shakespeare play. This was a real revolution, a real shock for the audience: an opera that tells the story of real people living in the present day, with real problems, about the love of an experienced woman and a very young man, who, moreover, come from different social classes, about an incurable disease. Moreover, «La Traviata» is not one of those works in which love triumphs over everything," Francesca Zambello formulated her vision of this opera as she began working on the production.
