Opera: Puccini's La Bohème

Presented by Musica Viva

Acknowledgement: Leisure and Cultural Services Department

An Opera in 4 Acts

Performed in Italian with Chinese and English Surtitles

La Bohème, with libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica based on the French novel Scenes of Bohemian Life by Henri Murger, is Puccini’s fourth opera.  Composition of the music took nearly three years and the opera was first performed in February 1896 in Turin.  Within three months the opera was on its road of triumph, winning enthusiastic applauses in opera theatres throughout the world.

This touching love story describes the struggle for survival of a group of poor artists in the Latin Quarter of Paris, where they experience happiness and sorrow, love and hate.  The play is accompanied throughout by sentimental music that beautifully conveys its powerful emotion.  A brilliant work of art in every respect, La Bohème possesses the perfect balance between light-hearted comedy and romantic tragedy, between lyrical charm and passionate expression which is rarely achieved in opera.  The compositional approach was very original for its time, and the music is full of innovative ideas skillfully accomplished.  The same creative team, Puccini with Giacosa and Illica, went on to produce two more masterpieces following the success of La Bohème, namely Tosca and Madama Butterfly.  These three works, together with the increasingly popular posthumous Turandot, are now the permanent box office hits of opera-houses all over the world.

Directed by Lo Kingman and conducted by Lio Kuokman, this production of Musica Viva will join collaboration between world-renown opera stars and home-grown talents, bringing alive the magnificent love story on Hong Kong stage.

For details, please refer to the website of the presenter: Musica Viva