Karen Chia-ling Ho as Mimì and Pene Pati as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème
Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera stages a revival of Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème by John Caird, winner of two Tony Awards – for his staging of Les Misérables and Nicholas Nickleby – and who made his debut for the Company with this production in 2014. The opera stars two international casts – Pene Pati who shares the role of Rodolfo with Evan LeRoy Johnson, and Karen Chia-ling Ho, sharing the role of Mimí with Nicole Car. Ramón Tebar, principal conductor and artistic director of Opera Naples in Florida, leads the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus (Director John Keene).
Pene Pati as Rodolfo, Bogdan Talos as Colline, Samuel Kidd as Schaunard, and Lucas Meachem as Marcello in Puccini’s La bohème
Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera
La bohème – with a libretto by Luigi Illica and Guiseppe Giacosa – was written in 1895, and first performed in Turin on February 1, 1896. The opera was based on a novel by French novelist and poet, Henri Murger – Scènes de la vie de bohème – in which he wrote about a lifestyle which he new intimately. He himself figured as Rodolfo in the book, and the other characters were all friends of his – students who were fun-loving and witty, with a healthy disregard for authority, but whose lives were also tempered with sadness. John Caird’s staging, a co-production between San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera and Canadian Opera Company, is inspired by the world of Belle Époque artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Samoan tenor Pene Pati – praised by Opéra-Online as “the most exceptional tenor discovery of the last decade” – has a repertoire of roles from Mozart to Massenet, Donizetti, Gounod, Puccini and Verdi. He recently appeared in the Diapason d’Or Gala at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, in Mozart’s Requiem at the Rosey Concert Hall in Rolle and at the KKL Luzern, both in Switzerland, at the German Aids Foundation Gala at Deutsche Oper Berlin, and in the title role of Gounod’s Faust at the Opéra national de Paris.
Karen Chia-ling Ho as Mimì and Pene Pati as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème
Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera
American tenor Evan LeRoy Johnson made his debut with San Francisco Opera as Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and as Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette for Minnesota Opera. Following this run of La bohème, he sings the role of Giasone in Cherubini’s Medea at the National Theatre in Prague, and makes his debut with Canadian Opera Company as Lensky. Future seasons include appearances with the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and a return to the National Theatre in Prague.
Taiwanese soprano Karen Chia-ling Ho – who “…. has the power to cut through any orchestra ….” according to Musical America – makes her role debut as Mimì, having received acclaim for her appearance as Princess Jia in Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang’s Dream of the Red Chamber. Among other performances, she has debuted with Opera Philadelphia, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Carolina and Virginia Opera in the title role of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, at the Metropolitan Opera as Meretatan in Philip Glass’ Akhnaten as well as Apparition in Verdi’s Macbeth, and appeared as Liù in Puccini’s Turandot with St Petersburg Opera.
Act II of Puccini’s La bohème
Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera
Sharing the role of Mimì is Australian soprano Nicole Car who returns to the Company, having made her debut as Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in 2022. Known for her her rich timbre and musicality, Nicole has appeared at the Wiener Staatsoper as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Antonia in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann and Elisabetta in Verdi’s Don Carlo. Other performances include Matréna in Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa with the Munchner Rundfunkorchester and Amelia in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera at the Bayerische Staatsoper.
Also in the cast are soprano Andrea Carroll, making her Company debut as Musetta. Debuts during the current season include those with the Minnesota Orchestra in Mozart’s Requiem, with the PKF Prague Philharmonia as Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and with Semperoper Dresden as Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel. The role of Musetta is shared with Grammy Award-winning soprano Brittany Renee, described by The Gazette as having a “…. crystal clear yet sultry voice ….”, and whose last appearance with San Francisco Opera was as Julie in Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’ Omar.
Lucas Meachem as Marcello and Pene Pati as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème
Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera
Grammy Award-winning baritone Lucas Meachem, described by Opera Pulse as a “rock star of opera”, returns to San Francisco Opera as the painter Marcello, having appeared as Sharpless during the Centennial Season performances of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Sharing the role is baritone Will Liverman who has made his mark at the Metropolitan Opera in recent performances of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones and Anthony Davis’ X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.
Romanian bass Bogdan Talos sings all performances in the role of Colline, making his Company debut, as he’s recently done at the Metropolitan Opera in the same role. He has also recently made his debut with Düsseldorf Opera as the villains in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow, baritone Samuel Kidd, is Schaunard. He made his Company debut in 2024, singing the roles of Silvano in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera and Morales in Bizet’s Carmen. Earlier this year, he was named a National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. San Francisco Opera Medal recipient Dale Travis has a repertoire encompassing 50 roles in a wide variety of styles from Mozart, Donizetti and Rossini to Strauss, Puccini and Wagner. He performs the dual roles of the landlord Benoit in Act I and Alcindoro in Act II.
Pene Pati as Rodolfo and Karen Chia-ling Ho as Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème
Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera
The production designer is David Farley, lighting designer is Michael Clark and the production is directed in revival by Katherine M Carter.
Spanish conductor Ramón Tebar leads the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus in nine performances of La bohème from June 3 to June 21 at the War Memorial Opera House. The production is sung in Italian with English supertitles
Tickets and further information are available on the San Francisco Opera website.
The performance of La bohème on Tuesday, June 10 at 7:30 pm Pacific, will be livestreamed. For more information, visit sfopera.com/digital/livestream.
Information sourced from:
San Francisco Opera program notes
Artists’ websites
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