‘La bohème’ Opens Opera’s 45th Season

San Diego Opera’s 45th International Season opens on Jan. 30, with Giacomo Puccini’s classic, La bohème, with a star studded cast of extraordinary singers that will prove to be the Company’s strongest production of this beloved opera to date.

Performed in Italian with English translations above the stage, La bohème tells the story of friends Rodolfo and Marcello who share a studio in Paris’s Latin Quarter. Rodolfo has fallen in love with his neighbor, Mimì, while Marcello is in love with Musetta, his ex-girlfriend and an unrepentant flirt. Tensions flare and relationships are challenged; Marcello and Musetta over his jealousy and Rodolfo and Mimì over the fact that she is very sick and Rodolfo is too poor to take care of her properly. The story takes a tragic turn when Mimì’s health worsens and Rodolfo realizes even love is not a strong enough force to delay the inevitable.

One of the greatest love stories ever told features some of the greatest music ever composed including the famed “Musetta’s Waltz” and the melodic “Mi chiamano Mimì” (“They call me Mimì”).

Last performed by San Diego Opera in 2005, La bohème features the exciting Company debut of Polish tenor Piotr Beczala as Rodlfo. One of the world’s leading tenors, Beczala dazzled audiences last season in the Metropolitan Opera performance of Lucia di Lammermoor and returns to the Met to sing Rodolfo immediately after these performances in San Diego.

Making a Company debut is exciting young soprano Ellie Dehn who sings Mimì in these performances. San Diego’s very own soprano, Priti Gandhi, will make her important role debut as Musetta. American baritone Jeff Mattsey will sing Marcello. Rounding out the cast are American bass-baritone Alfred Walker as Colline, American baritone Malcolm Mackenzie as Schaunard and American bass-baritone Scott Sikon taking on the double roles of Alcindro and Benoit. San Diego Opera’s resident conductor Karen Keltner will lead from the podium and stage director E. Loren Meeker will make her Company directing debut.

Audiences familiar with this opera are already enthusiastically welcoming Anja Harteros and Piotr Beczala to San Diego for these performances, while those new to opera will see why La bohème is one of the most popular operas in the entire repertoire.

La bohème
San Diego Opera’s 45th International Season
Saturday Jan. 30, 7pm
Tuesday Feb. 2, 7pm
Friday Feb. 5, 8pm
Sunday Feb. 7, 2pm
Tickets: $35-$210

San Diego Civic Theatre, 3rd and B Street (In Downtown San Diego)
Box Office: (619) 533-7000
Online: sdopera.com