Puccini's La Boheme February 19, 2010

Fridays Feb 19 & 26 at 8pm, Sundays Feb 21 & 28 at 3pm

La Boheme is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scenes de la vie de boheme by Henri Murger. The "bohemians" a poet, musician, painter and philosopher live together in a small garret in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Mimi, the heroine, meets the quartet when her candle blows out. This opera in the "verismo" era is the story of love at first sight, friendship, mistrust and jealosy; sadness and regret; reconciliation and death or "real life".

Mission City Opera presents this favorite at the beautiful Mission City Center for Performing Arts in Santa Clara. MCO's mission is to provide the amazing Bay Area talent the opportunity to perform major works fully staged and with orchestra.

Tickets are available now for all performances and start at $16. Seating is limited so get them today!

Our professional artists for this performance:
Rodolfo Chester Pidduck
Schaunard Sascha Joggerst
Benoit David Wright
Mimi Sharon Maxwell-Yamamoto*
Raina Simons
Marcello Martin Bell
Colline Robert Snedegar
Musetta Diane Squires
Parpignol Paul Robles
Alcindoro David Wright
Children Vivace Youth Chorus
MCO Ensemble / MCO Orchestra

The world premiere performance of La Boheme was in Turin on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio, now the Teatro Regio di Torino, and conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini. Since then La Boheme has become part of the standard Italian opera repertory and is one of the most frequently performed operas internationally. According to Opera America, it is the second most frequently performed opera in the United States, just behind another Puccini opera, Madama Butterfly. In 1946, fifty years after the opera's premiere, Toscanini conducted a performance of it on radio with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. This performance was eventually released on records and on Compact Disc. It is the only recording of a Puccini opera by its original conductor.

Official Website: http://www.missioncityopera.org