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BLO hasn't staged La Traviata since 2006 (pictured). This fall the opera gets a racy new update, courtesy of Artistic Director Esther Nelson. photography by Eric antoniou Oper a in the Buff Boston Lyric opera shakes up La TraviaTa with fresh voices, tight corsets, and (gasp) nudity. by jared bowen Go ahead. Complain about Boston Lyric Opera switching things up. Esther Nelson dares you. "I wish we could have a conversation sometimes about what is traditional," says the BLO's general and artistic director, referring to the purists who condemn the company's unconventional take on the classics. As the BLO opens its 38th season with a brand-new production of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata, Nelson relishes the criticism she expects to come her way. "We have more and more heated arguments with every production we do," she says. And that's before the nudity. This is the first time the company has staged La Traviata in nearly a decade. The opera tells the saga of Violetta Valery, a ferociously independent courtesan recovering from consumption. Making her BLO debut as the doomed heroine is soprano Anya Matanovic. "The angle I'm taking is that if you look at what happened to many of the courtesans and prostitutes back then, they were part of this underground world in conTinued on page 58 bostoncommon-magazine.com 57 CULTURE Hottest Ticket