One of the most popular operas of the entire operatic repertoire was inspired by the novel Scenes of Bohemian Life by Henry Murger and set to libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica.

The great musical piece, seen by the audience as highly romantic and packed with emotions, highlights above all the cruelty and poverty of artistic life and thus unveils in front of its audience a story of the life of Parisian bohemians, full of hopes and dreams, joys and disappointments.

For many opera connoisseurs, La Bohème is the best Puccini work, in which his incredible talent for creating melody intertwines with impressionistic musical and dramatic procedures as well as with an unfailing sense of detail. With operas such as Manon Lescaut, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Turandot and Triptych (the oneact operas The Cloak, Sister Angelica and the brilliant opera buffa Gianni Schicchi) Giacomo Puccini gained a reputation as the first Italian opera composer and Verdi's successor already in the early stages of his career.

Opera La Bohème premiered on 1st February 1896 at the Teatro Regio in Turin, conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini. Its success was far from brilliant – the audience received the opera quite well, whereas the critics found it cheap and too sentimental. Today, it has been a part of the regular repertoire of all the opera houses worldwide.

The opera was first performed in Ljubljana in 1898 at the German Theatre and with the Slovenian cast in 1903.

This time, it will be seen on our stage in a co-production with the Opéra Grand Avignon, in its seventeenth directorial version, directed by Frédéric Roels.

Text: Tatjana Ažman