NC Opera to Present LA BOHEME, 1/24-26

North Carolina Opera, under the leadership of General Director Eric Mitchko and Artistic Director & Principal Conductor Timothy Myers, presents Puccini's La bohème in Memorial Hall at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh on Fri., Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. and Sun., Jan. 26, 2014 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $27-$85 and may be purchased online at www.ncopera.org or by phone at 919.792.3850.

Puccini's La bohème (the inspiration for Broadway's RENT) opens on a snowy Christmas Eve in 1830's Paris.

A garret of struggling artists set out to blow their rent money on one splendid night in the Latin Quarter, swirling through unforgettable locales such as the Café Momus, which vividly springs to life in this production. The poet Rodolfo's chance encounter with the seamstress Mimì sparks a passionate story of young lovers hurled together by fortune but driven apart by jealousy.

Arturo Toscanini conducted the world premiere of La bohème in 1896 at the Teatro Regio di Torino in Italy. Since that time it has become the world's most popular opera, a timeless love story with sweeping, lush melodies that are often imitated but never surpassed. In the Triangle, La bohème was last performed in 2007.

La bohème is sung in Italian with English surtitles. Robert Moody, Music Director of the Winston-Salem Symphony, conducts the production, which is staged by Crystal Manich.

Soprano Angela Fout is the seamstress, Mimì, a role that she sang last season at Opera Memphis. She has sung many leading roles at Theater St. Gallen in Switzerland, including the titles roles in Madama Butterfly, La traviata, Arabella, and The Merry Widow and Lisa (Pique Dame), Amelia (A Masked Ball), Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni). She has also appeared at New York City Opera, Vancouver Opera, Minnesota Opera, The Atlanta Opera, and the Spoleto Festival, among others.

As the poet Rodolfo, tenor Eric Barry is reunited with Angela Fout, his Mimì at Opera Memphis. He has a close association with the Beethoven Easter Festival and the Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw, where has appeared as Avito in L'amore dei tre re, Don Luigi in Maria Padilla, Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra and the tenor soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. He is a favorite at Amarillo Opera, where he has sung Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, the Duke in Rigoletto, and Rodolfo in La bohème. He frequently appears in concert with orchestras across the United States.

Soprano Jacqueline Echols is the flirtatious Musetta. She has appeared with The Cincinnati Opera in Rigoletto, The Magic Flute and Porgy and Bess, in which she sang the role of Clara. Her concert work includes performances with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops, and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. She sang the role of Giulietta in Verdi's Un giorno di Regno at the 2013 Glimmerglass Festival. Her other roles include Anne Trulove in The Rake's Progress, the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro and the Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, all of which she sang at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. She is a first-year member of Washington National Opera's Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program.

Baritone Troy Cook is Musetta's on-again-off-again lover, Marcello, a role he has sung with Hamburgische Staatsoper, Opera Philadelphia, and Central City Opera. In 2011 at the Minnesota Opera, he originated the role of Father Palmer in Silent Night, the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera by Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell. That world premiere production was filmed and will debut on PBS on December 13. Next season, he will sing Marcello at Pittsburgh Opera. Future engagements also include appearances at Opera Philadelphia, The Dallas Opera, and San Diego Opera.

Bass Soloman Howard is the philosopher, Colline. He has appeared at Washington National Opera (The Commendatore in Don Giovanni and the High Priest of Baal in Nabucco), Washington Concert Opera (Leone in Attila), the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, the Conservatory Project on the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, and the American Opera Initiative, where he appeared as Muhammad Ali in the world premiere of Approaching Ali. He is a third-year member of Washington National Opera's Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program.

Baritone John E. Orduña is the musician, Schaunard. He has appeared with Opera Omaha, the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Monterey Chamber Orchestra, and Cincinnati May Festival. In 2013, he was member of the Studio Artist Program at Sarasota Opera and the Young Artist Program at the Glimmerglass Festival. His roles include Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Leporello in Don Giovanni, and Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette.

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