Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
Nicole Car Soprano (Mimì)
Stephen Costello Tenor (Rodolfo)
Leah Hawkins Soprano (Musetta)
Adam Plachetka Baritone (Marcello)
Christian Van Horn Bass-baritone (Colline)
Alexey Lavrov Baritone (Schaunard)
Donald Maxwell Baritone (Benoit/Alcindoro)
Puccini La bohème
If there’s such a thing as perfection in music, La bohème is it,” writes the Philadelphia Inquirer. One of the world’s most popular operas, Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème has seized the imaginations and captured the hearts of audiences since its 1896 premiere, bringing fans back again and again with its ravishing melodies, soaring arias and romantic story of love among young artists in Paris.
The story of its creation is steeped in gossip and rivalry. Drawn to the richness of its characters and theatrical potential, Puccini had decided to create an opera based on the popular novel and play Scènes de la vie de bohème. While working on the opera he joined his friend and rival composer Ruggero Leoncavallo for coffee, only to find that Leoncavallo had the same idea and was working on his own opera, with the same title. Leoncavallo was furious, believing that Puccini had stolen the idea from him, and blasted Puccini in the press. Unmoved, Puccini publicly responded: “What does it matter to Maestro Leoncavallo? Let him compose, I will compose. The audience will decide.” Alas for Leoncavallo, the audience did decide and Puccini’s La bohème has reigned supreme ever since.
Fresh from conducting the spring 2023 engagement of La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera, Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads this performance, bringing Puccini’s immortal score out of the pit and onto the stage. Be here as the heartbreaking romance of this timeless tragedy leaps to life.