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La bohème

State Opera (Státní opera)Wilsonova 4, Prague, Central Bohemian Region, 110 00, Czech Republic
Dates/times in Prague time zone
Wednesday 17 December 202519:00
Friday 19 December 202519:00
Thursday 25 December 202518:00
Tuesday 30 December 202519:00
Saturday 03 January 202618:00
Saturday 17 January 202618:00
Thursday 22 January 202619:00
Sunday 25 January 202618:00
Saturday 31 January 202618:00
Programme
Puccini, Giacomo (1858-1924)La bohèmeLibretto by Luigi Illica, Giuseppe Giacosa
Performers
Prague State Opera
Yaroslav ShemetConductor
Ondřej HavelkaDirector
Martin ČernýSet Designer
Jana ZbořilováCostume Designer
Prague State Opera Orchestra
Jitka SlavíkováDramaturgy
Prague State Opera Chorus
Adolf MelicharChoirmaster / chorus director
Prague Philharmonic Children's Choir
Jiří ChválaChoirmaster / chorus director
Jana HanušováChoreography
Alejandro Del AngelTenorRodolfo
Petr NekoranecTenorRodolfo
Jana SiberaSopranoMimì
Kateřina KněžíkováSopranoMimì
Pavol KubáňBaritoneMarcello
Jiří BrücklerBaritoneMarcello
Barbora PernáSopranoMusetta
Lukáš BařákBass-baritoneSchaunard
Tadeáš HozaBaritoneSchaunard
Jan HnykBassColline
Pavel ŠvingrBassColline
Roman VocelBassBenoît
Jan JežekTenorAlcindoro
Martin MatoušekBaritoneAlcindoro
Benjamín HájekTenorParpignol
Sergej SmirnyjTenorParpignol
Andrey StyrkulBassCustoms Officer
Alexander LaptěvBassCustoms Officer

Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème ranks among the most frequently staged operas worldwide. The composer was inspired by the Paris-based painter and writer Henry Murger’s popular book Scènes de la vie de bohème, published in 1851, immediately sensing its enormous dramatic potential. He duly asked the librettists and playwrights Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, with whom he had successfully collaborated previously, to pen a text for a new opera. Their fruitful partnership is among the most cherished in the history of opera, comparable to that of W. A. Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte, or Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

La bohème premiered on 1 February in 1896 at the Teatro Regio in Turin. The seeming levity of the opera, starkly contrasting with the still prevailing Wagnerism, baffled the audience and the critics alike. The opening night met with a lukewarm response, yet two months later in Palermo La bohème was received rapturously, and ever since has enjoyed enormous popularity. As he did again later in Madama Butterfly and Turandot, Puccini manifested his mastery of musical rendition of local colour. The current State Opera production, featuring Martin Černý’s sets and Jana Zbořilová’s costumes, was created by the stage director Ondřej Havelka, who with great elegance and gentle humour, alleviating the plot’s tragic situations, suggestively evokes the milieu of late 19th-century Paris, depicting as it does the story of four young artists for whom friendship is more than a mere word.

Suitable for audience from 12 years.

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