Wednesday 17 December 2025 | 19:00 |
Friday 19 December 2025 | 19:00 |
Thursday 25 December 2025 | 18:00 |
Tuesday 30 December 2025 | 19:00 |
Saturday 03 January 2026 | 18:00 |
Saturday 17 January 2026 | 18:00 |
Thursday 22 January 2026 | 19:00 |
Sunday 25 January 2026 | 18:00 |
Saturday 31 January 2026 | 18:00 |
Puccini, Giacomo (1858-1924) | La bohème | Libretto by Luigi Illica, Giuseppe Giacosa |
Prague State Opera | ||
Yaroslav Shemet | Conductor | |
Ondřej Havelka | Director | |
Martin Černý | Set Designer | |
Jana Zbořilová | Costume Designer | |
Prague State Opera Orchestra | ||
Jitka Slavíková | Dramaturgy | |
Prague State Opera Chorus | ||
Adolf Melichar | Choirmaster / chorus director | |
Prague Philharmonic Children's Choir | ||
Jiří Chvála | Choirmaster / chorus director | |
Jana Hanušová | Choreography | |
Alejandro Del Angel | Tenor | Rodolfo |
Petr Nekoranec | Tenor | Rodolfo |
Jana Sibera | Soprano | Mimì |
Kateřina Kněžíková | Soprano | Mimì |
Pavol Kubáň | Baritone | Marcello |
Jiří Brückler | Baritone | Marcello |
Barbora Perná | Soprano | Musetta |
Lukáš Bařák | Bass-baritone | Schaunard |
Tadeáš Hoza | Baritone | Schaunard |
Jan Hnyk | Bass | Colline |
Pavel Švingr | Bass | Colline |
Roman Vocel | Bass | Benoît |
Jan Ježek | Tenor | Alcindoro |
Martin Matoušek | Baritone | Alcindoro |
Benjamín Hájek | Tenor | Parpignol |
Sergej Smirnyj | Tenor | Parpignol |
Andrey Styrkul | Bass | Customs Officer |
Alexander Laptěv | Bass | Customs 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.