Pacific Opera Victoria To Present Puccini's La Boheme

A cast of exciting and familiar voices returns to Pacific Opera Victoria (POV) for Puccini's La Bohème, a bittersweet tale of young, impoverished artists experiencing friendship, love and loss. La Bohème is presented February 15 to 25, 2018, at the Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton Street, in Victoria, British Columbia.

The opera is a portrayal of the Bohemian life - la vie de Bohème - a free-spirited, romantic counterculture of starving artists in freezing garrets, meeting life with camaraderie, bravado, love, and heartbreak.

Puccini's ultimate tear-jerker about love and loss, La Bohème is also full of light-hearted moments as the story follows the relationships of two Parisian couples - the poet Rodolfo and the seamstress Mimi, and their friends, the artist Marcello and his capricious lover Musetta.

The inspiration for popular contemporary works such as the Broadway musical Rent and the film Moulin Rouge, La Bohème reigns as one of the most popular operas of all time, maintaining a consistent place near the top of the opera hit parade. Puccini's music never disappoints - sparkling with humour, pouring out rapturous melodies - it is always completely irresistible.

Pacific Opera Victoria is delighted to welcome soprano Lucia Cesaroni in her role debut as Mimi. An early participant in POV's Resident Artist program, Ms. Cesaroni has sung major roles on opera stages across Canada and in Europe. She was last seen at POV as Woglinde in Das Rheingold and Anne Trulove in The Rake's Progress.

American tenor Jason Slayden (Adorno in POV's Simon Boccanegra) returns to POV as Rodolfo, having previously sung the role for Vancouver Opera, Arizona Opera, and Virginia Opera. Musetta and Marcello are played by internationally acclaimed artists Sharleen Joynt (the Queen of the Night in POV's recent production of The Magic Flute) and Brett Polegato (Paolo in POV's Simon Boccanegra). They are joined by Stephen Hegedus (Colline), Andrew Love (Schaunard), and J. Patrick Raftery (Benoît/Alcindoro) along with Joé Lampron, Taylor Fawcett, Louis Dillon and Stephen Cropper in supporting roles, and the POV Chorus and members of the Victoria Children's Choir.

Director Maria Lamont has been an assistant and a revival director for opera companies world-wide, including La Scala, La Monnaie, Brussels, and Theater an der Wien. Designer Camellia Koo's credits include the Shaw and Stratford Festivals and opera companies in Canada, the US, and Europe. Ms. Lamont and Ms. Koo created POV's 2012 production of Maria Stuarda and have reunited for this original production of La Bohème, which they have set in Paris in the early 1950s. Lighting designer Kevin Lamotte returns to POV for his sixth production. Giuseppe Pietraroia conducts the Victoria Symphony.

La Bohème is performed at the Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton Street, Victoria, BC, February 15, 17, 23, 2018, at 8 pm, Wednesday, February 21, at 7 pm and Sunday, February 25, at 2:30 pm. Pre-performance lectures take place in the theatre lobby one hour prior to each show. The opera is performed in Italian, with English surtitles, and the approximate running time is 2 hours and 20 minutes, plus one intermission.

Priced between $25 and $140, including tax & box office service charges, tickets are available from the Royal and McPherson Box Office at 250-386-6121, or online at www.rmts.bc.ca.

For more information, contact Pacific Opera Victoria at 250-385-0222 or visit www.pov.bc.ca

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