by Ruth McKee

An operatic collaboration between an American film-maker, an Italian haute couture king, and a British set designer will make its debut this weekend. Sofia Coppola's La Traviata will open at the Opera of Rome on Sunday in a production featuring costumes made and designed by Valentino with backdrops created by Nathan Crowley, the set designer for the Batman films.

Valentino, who sits on the opera house's board, approached the American director after seeing her 2006 film Marie Antoinette, which he said showed she possesses "a distinctive sensitivity and musical aesthetic, balancing the classic and the modern".

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Source: http://www.theguardian.com/