Opera Narodowa, the Polish National Opera, stages Giacomo Puccini’s passionate and heartbreaking portrayal of love, friendship and loss in the Bohemian quarter of 19th century Paris. The four-act opera stars Aleksandra Kurzak as Mimi and Piotr Buszewski as Rodolfo, the two lovers at the heart of this story. Aleksandra Orłowska is Musetta, Szymon Mechliński is Marcello, Jan Żądło is Schaunard, Jan Żądło is Schaunard and Jerzy Butryn is Colline. Patrick Fournillier leads the orchestra of the Polish National Opera, and the director of this production is Barbara Wysocka who has brought the production forward to the present day.
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 original opera was based on an 1849 novel, Scènes de la vie de bohème, by French writer and poet Henri Murger, in which he wrote about a lifestyle with which he was well acquainted. He himself figured as Rodolfo in the book, and the other characters were all friends of his – students who were short of money, yet fun-loving and witty, with a healthy disregard for authority, until their lives were touched by tragedy.
The premiere of this production took place on 3rd December 2021, at the Polish National Opera, Teatr Wielki, in Warsaw.
Polish-born soprano Aleksandra Kurzak has appeared with major companies such as the Staatsoper in Berlin, Teatro Regio in Parma, Finnish National Opera, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Opernhaus Zurich, Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Vienna State Opera. She recently sung the role of Mimi at the Metropolitan Opera and Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, to which she will return in the tile role of Puccini’s Tosca. She will then go to the Met again to sing this role, then will appear as Máři Magdaléna at the Prague Spring Festival.
Polish tenor Piotr Buszewski appears regularly at many of the opera houses around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Opernhaus Zurich and Semperoper Dresden. He has been praised by critics for his magnificent clear ringing tenor, nobility of tone and captivating stage presence. This season saw Buszewski return to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata, Oper Leipzig as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto and to Semperoper Dresden as Fadinard in Nino Rota’s Il cappello di paglia di Firenze. He will also sing Stefan in Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko’s The Haunted Manor for Wroclaw Opera and Kosta Guzi in
Zygmunt Noskowski’s The Judgement for Teatr Wielki Poznan.
Soprano Aleksandra Orłowska has a wide-ranging repertoire which includes the roles of Tebaldo in Verdi’s Don Carlos and Kate Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, the title role in Dvořák’s Rusalka, Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust, Vitellia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. She also regularly collaborates with organisations such as the Warsaw Philharmonic, the National Orchestra of Poland, the Warsaw Chamber Opera and the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra.
Highlights of baritone Szymon Mechliński’s past season included several debuts, such Valentin in Gounod’s Faust at Canadian Opera Company, as Guglielmo Cecil in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda at Teatro Real Madrid, as Don Pizaro in Beethoven’s Fidelio at Opera Bordeaux and Marcello in La bohème at the Santa Fe Opera Festival. He will also return to the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw as Paolo Albiani in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, to the Łódź Philharmonic with Via Crucis and to the Szczecin Philharmonic with Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. He has been praised by Opera Actual for his “dark-hued, expressive baritone and captivating stage presence”.
Baritone Jan Żądło is currently studying for his PhD at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. Most recently, he has appeared at the Opera de Lyon in Respighi’s La bella dormente nel bosco as Il Re, L’Ambasciatore and Il Boscaiolo. He has collaborated with the Polish Radio Orchestra, the Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sielsian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic Orchestra.
Bass-baritone Jerzy Butryn has been a member and artistic director of the a cappella ensemble Wrocław Male Vocal Octet since 2018. He has appeared at Theater Kiel, Teatro Stignani, Salle Pleyel, at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Polish National Opera, and he has also performed at festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festiwal in Kiel, Ohrid Summer Festival, Wratislavia Cantans, Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, Opera Rara in Kraków, and the Moniuszko Festival in Kudowa-Zdrój. He performs extensively in concert at home and abroad, singing oratorios, opera, songs and Orthodox church music.
This production of La bohème is directed by Barbara Wysocka, who previously appeared with her take on Philip Glass’s The Fall of the House of Usher, Pascal Dusapin’s Medeamaterial, Eugeniusz Knapik’s Moby Dick, Ludomir Różycki’s Eros and Psyche, and Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca in Warsaw.
Conductor Patrick Fournillier is regarded as one of the best specialists in French and Italian music. He has led some of the most important works of the symphonic and lyric repertoires with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras such as the Metropolitan Opera in New York, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and has most recently conducted performances of Rigoletto, Tosca, Werther, MacMillan’s ballet Mayerling, Puccini’s La Bohème and the ballet Giselle. He has been the music director of the Polish National Opera at Teatr Wielki since the 2020/21 season.
This performance is given in the original Italian with Polish surtitles. La bohème runs at the Moniuszko Auditorium, Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, from 16th to 25th January, 2026. Further information and details of ticketing are available on this link. [https://teatrwielki.pl/en/calendar/2025-2026/la-boheme/i94cg9gji9wq.jsp]
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