La Bohème

Fri 02. May 19:00 The Grand Building of Vanemuine Theatre
Sun 04. May 16:00 The Grand Building of Vanemuine Theatre
Fri 16. May 19:00 The Grand Building of Vanemuine Theatre

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini’s opera

Giacomo Puccini’s most celebrated, eternal opera of love and loss, of struggling artists on the edges of society who are about to learn life’s hardest lessons. On Christmas Eve in Paris, a young woman knocks on a young man’s door and their lives are changed forever. This is opera at its most joyous and most tragic, telling the most human of stories. 

Puccini’s opera La Bohème premiered in 1896 at Teatro Regio in Turin. Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica’s libretto is based on Henri Mugler’s novel The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter. 

Updated to a post-war Paris on the brink of the revolutionary 1960s, this fresh and energetic production is a new collaboration between British opera director John Ramster, Canadian-British designer Bridget Kimak and Vanemuine’s music director Risto Joost following their 2022 Don Giovanni at the Kilden Theatre in Norway. 

Premiere on May 2nd 2025 at the Vanemuine Theatre Grand Building

Language: Italian
Surtitles: Estonian, English


Composer Giacomo Puccini
Librettist Luigi Illica
Musical Director and Conductor Risto Joost
Conductors Aleksandr Brazhnyk, Endel Nõgene
Director John Ramster UK
Costume and Set Designer Bridget Kimak Canada/UK
Lighting Designer Palle Palmé Sweden

 

Cast Mirjam Mesak Bayerische Staatsoper or Tamara Kalinkina Ukraine, Gabriele Mangione Italy, Kadri Kõrvek Estonian National Opera or Pirjo Jonas, Jānis Apeinis Latvian National Opera or Taavi Tampuu, Simo Breede or Raiko Raalik Estonian National Opera, Märt Jakobson or Kristjan Häggblom, Atlan Karp or Märt Jakobson, Taavi Tampuu or Atlan Karp, Rasmus Kull or Hisatoshi Nezu, Kristjan Häggblom or Egon Laanesoo, Artur Nagel or Risto Orav 

Vanemuine opera choir and Vanemuine symphony orchestra