The familiar melodies of Giuseppe Verdi filled the historic opera house July 11 on opening night of Central City Opera's 2015 summer festival. It was a dressed-down audience for the 83rd season opener, as the Yellow Rose Ball and presentation of the flower girls took place earlier on June 27 instead of the traditional opening night formal affair.

It was an ordinary summer evening on Eureka Street. What wasn't ordinary was the outstanding performance of the last great piece of Verdi's triumvirate (Rigoletto, Il Travatore, La Traviata) that he wrote in 1853. He based the opera on Alexander Dumas' novel La Dame aux Camélias, the true account of Marie Duplessis, a 19th century high-class Parisian prostitute who died of tuberculosis at age 23.

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Source: http://www.examiner.com/