One of the most popular operas in the entire operatic repertoire was inspired by the novel "Scenes from the Life of Bohème" by Henry Murger and provided with a libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica.
This magnificent musical work, perceived by the public as highly romantic and emotionally charged, highlights above all the cruelty and poverty of artistic life and thus unfolds before its audience a story from the life of the Parisian bohemians, full of hopes and dreams, joys and disappointments.
For many opera connoisseurs, La Bohème is Puccini's finest work, in which his incredible talent for melody is interwoven with impressionistic musical and dramatic techniques and an unerring sense of detail. With operas such as Manon Lescaut, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Turandot and the Trittico (the one-act operas Il tabarro, Suor Angelica and the brilliant opera buffa Gianni Schicchi), Giacomo Puccini gained a reputation as a leading Italian opera composer and successor to Verdi in the early stages of his career.
The opera La Bohème was premiered on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio in Turin, conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini. Its success was far from brilliant - the audience received the opera quite well, while the critics found it cheap and too sentimental. Today it is an integral part of the regular repertoire of all opera houses worldwide.
The opera was first performed at the German Theater in Ljubljana in 1898 and with a Slovenian cast in 1903. This time it will be shown on our stage in a co-production with the Opéra Grand Avignon in its seventeenth staged version, directed by Frédéric Roels.
Premiere April 11, 2024
Further performances: April 12, 13, 16, 18, 19 and 20, May 31, June 1, 2024
