Mikayla Sager as Violetta. Photo by Dave Lepori.
Opera San Jose
La Traviata
April 19, 2026
Opera San Jose’s opening tableau features Violetta in a stunning white gown, sitting in a single spotlight as a trickle of red and white confetti drifts down from the flies. I love stage confetti, but how intriguing that this small stream signifies sadness, while a full rain of the stuff would mean unbridled joy. Little refugees escaped later in the performance, at one point a half dozen of the little rascals, hovering like red butterflies over the second act.
–Like anyone, critics have good days and bad, and at OSJ’s opening matinee I found that my ears were at a dog-like peak. I could hear everything. Our Violetta, Mikayla Sager, has a perfectly balanced vibrato, and when she reaches into the upper strata her voice creates a crystalline lacework of sound. Listening to her work through the mini-marathon of the opening act was a buffet of vocal desserts.
–Our Alfredo, WooYoung Yoon, is equally as lyric, but with a 13 percent share of spinto - just enough to give Alfredo a little force when the going gets tough. His flights above the staff bring a ringing bronze tone, and his attention to dynamics is fantastic. This especially showed in “Dei miei bollenti spiriti,” Alfredo’s Act 2 counting of his blessings, and in the duet section of “Di quell’amore,” which closes with an a capella section that comes across like a sculpture of sound.
–During that remarkable and famous Act 1 self-argument (true love or madcap adventures?), the maid Annina (Nicole Koh) removed Violetta’s skirt, revealing the hose and garters underneath. I understand stage director Tara Branham’s strategy - being more sexual and forthright about Violetta’s profession - but the combination of bare legs and the poofy top created an awkward asymmetry that distracted from the action. Other moves in this direction - a rather Fifty Shades relationship between Violetta and the Baron (Robert Balonek) - were more successful.
–Kidon Choi is a linebacker of a singer with a mountainous baritone. All this force created a very imposing Giorgio Germont, and intensified my utter dislike for the character. And it’s not just operatic veterans who feel this way. My companion, the Keyboard Queen, attending her first Traviata, whispered, “He’s such a D!” Perhaps in a time of old white men hanging on to power by destroying younger people’s lives, we’ve got extra incentives to despise Germont’s meddling. (Put him in a tie with B.F. Pinkerton for villains who don’t know they’re villains.)
–The K-Queen was quite amused by Flora’s Act 2 salon, especially the bullfight. The star was baritone Michael Jesse Kuo, who lent his height and great hair to a splendid faux Carmen, his black slacks and shoes still visible beneath her skirt. The chorus in general was rowdy and vivacious. I enjoyed the way they stacked up at the doors to spy on the budding love triangle at the opening party.
–Sager’s account of “Addio, del passato” was moving and desperate, well suited to the sobbing qualities in her voice. She also coughed up an impressive amount of blood, another directorial choice aimed at keeping things more “real.” The sunset light coming through the opened curtains was strikingly natural, some alchemical fusion cooked up by lighting designer Mitchell Ost.
–I enjoyed the work of conductor Johannes Lohner, who seemed especially attentive to the needs of his singers. Erik Flatmo’s set was especially versatile, using sliding walls to switch from Parisian apartment to country home.
–OSJ offers supertitles in both English and Spanish. With an opera this familiar, I found myself following the Spanish side just to brush up on my skills.
Through May 3, California Theater, 345 S. First Ave., San Jose. 408/437-4450, www.operasj.org. $56-$221.
Michael J. Vaughn is opera critic for the Palo Alto Weekly and the author of 31 novels, including his recent release, Semiprecious, available at Amazon.com.
