Premiere LA BOHÈMEGiacomo Puccini
We are opening the autumn of 2017 with the opera directed by the renowned American director Fabrizio Melano. After the audience had cried together with Werther and Charlotte at the last season’s hit, Werther by J. Massenet in the direction of Melano, this experienced and famous opera director is bringing us the already forgotten scenes from the life of bohemians, 30 years since the last staging of La Bohème in our theatre. The last La Bohème that Fabrizio Melano directed for the Metropolitan Opera was with the stars such as Renata Scotto and Luciano Pavarotti, while this is what he has written of his direction for the CNT Ivan pl. Zajc: “This time, as in Werther, I’d like to concentrate on the psychology and interaction among characters as well as the difficult issues they face, such as poverty and sickness. This is why a complicated set will not be necessary, while the costumes needn’t be determined by the time; the action takes place anytime from 1840 until nowadays.”
The life of artists in this opera is our life and struggle. Not only artists but also the audience will be able to identify with the story that follows a cruel reality and the attempt of four young artists to realize themselves, accompanied by the melodramatic music of Giacomo Puccini. Hopes for a better tomorrow and everyday struggle with the cruel reality are definitely also part of our reality, while the tragic end of the main heroes will undoubtedly bring tears to our eyes again.
Running time:
The performance lasts 2 hours and 40 minutes, including two intervals after Act II and Act III.
Just as in Werther, I have concentrated on the psychology and interaction between characters and difficult topics they encounter, such as poverty and illness. This is the reason why a complicated set design is not necessary, while the costumes are not determined by time, the action taking place any time from 1840 up to nowadays. It has also been a great pleasure to work with the ensemble of exceptionally talented young singers ready to undertake a dramatic risk. I hope that we have proved to be true to Murger’s Scenes from the Life of Bohemia, revolutionary when they had first appeared, as well Puccini’s opera that moved but also cheered its first audience.
Fabrizio Melano
… it is so appealing and accessible that it is easy to have it rendered as a light-hearted and badly prepared musical production. Unfortunately, this happens too often. However, if enough devotion and hard work is invested in the study of Puccini’s precise, almost obsessive instructions for the tempo, rhythm and dynamics, La Bohème is bound to emerge as a great masterpiece. La Bohème is one of the genuinely perfect operas, with not one its part that you can do without or have one of its notes changed. All of us working on this production of La Bohème are trying to give it the attention and respect that it deserves in order for our audience to be moved exactly as much as Puccini himself would have wanted it.
Ville Matvejeff
