Opera Australia Presents LA BOHEME at Sydney Opera House Tonight

Sydney, Australia: Opera Australia's popular production of Gale Edwards' La Bohème returns to the Sydney Opera House for another exciting season. This glittering production provides the perfect setting for the heart-wrenching love story, filled with the familiar arias of Puccini's most famous opera.

This production of La Bohème is set in the chaos of street fairs and burlesque bars of 1930s Berlin, with all its colour and political anguish. It's Christmas Eve and a painter, a musician, a philosopher and a poet are having a night on the town. The young bohemians will battle the cold and some will fall in love.

'Musetta's Waltz' is a standout in the score, and the soaring 'Si, mi chiamano Mimi...' and 'O soave faniciulla' will have your heart racing.

A dream creative team brings Puccini's classic to life in a sumptuous, decadent and romantic world of fairy lights, fringing and fishnets: Brian Thomson (set), Julie Lynch (costumes) and John Rayment (lighting). Italian maestro Carlo Montanaro premieres in Sydney as conductor.

Among the many talented performers within the cast, Opera Australia principals Natalie Aroyan, Shane Lowrencev, Lorina Gore and Diego Torre will perform lead roles. The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra will be conducted by Carlo Montanaro until 30 January and Christian Badea for the remainder of the season.

Puccini based his opera on a novel and play by Henri Murger, following the lives and deaths of two young bohemians living in Paris' Latin Quarter in the 1840s. The libretto, written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa combines the characters, but is a mostly original text.

This beautiful opera is a must see; perfect for those wanting to experience opera for the first time and for those wanting to revisit an old favourite.

To post a comment, you must register and login.