La bohème La bohème
La bohème
SEASON 2012/13 - Giacomo Puccini
June 2013
Δημιουργική Ομάδα

DIRECTOR
Isidoros Sideris

SETS - COSTUMES
Giannis Katranitsas

CHOREOGRAPHER
Dionyssis Tsaftaridis

LIGHTS
Nikos Ergazakis

LIBRETTO TRANSLATION
Maria Mourkoussi

PIANO
Frixos Mortzos

Πρωταγωνιστές Παράστασης

RODOLFO
Yannis Christopoulos

MIMI
Voula Amiradaki

MARCELLO
Haris Andrianos

MUSETTA
Maria Kokka

SCHAUNARD
Christos Lazos

COLLINE
Theodoros Moraitis

ALCINDORO
Christos Amvrazis

LOVE - DEATH
Dionyssis Tsaftaridis

Suitcase Οpera with an exclusive donation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation

La bohème

Giacomo Puccini

19 June 2013
NEAS SMYRNI'S "ESTIA"
Starts at 20.00 | clock
Admission is free of charge

On Wednesday 19 June at 20.00, the Pocket Opera will tell the tragic tale of the love between the poet Rodolfo and the seamstress Mimi as it unfolds in Giacomo Puccini's legendary opera La bohème, at a very special venue: the Estia of Nea Smyrni.
The artists of the Greek National Opera will welcome opera fans and all members of the public at the Estia of Nea Smyrni (1, Constantinou Paleologou Str.), for a performance that is being sponsored by the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Foundation.
By supporting the work of the Greek National Opera, the Foundation is helping make opera more accessible to a wider audience, supporting a series of performances that will take place all over Greece.

Flexible, but without discounting on quality, the Pocket Opera travels to unexpected venues like municipal cultural centres and museums, along with a cast of the GNO's excellent singers, a piano instead of an orchestra and all the sets packed into one suitcase, with the purpose of meeting and charming new audiences.

The production’s director, Isidoros Sideris, notes: The Suitcase Opera presents La bohème in an alternative form, as a versatile and compact performance. Its aim is not to compete with the central stage of the GNO, but, rather, using simple media and the power of the music and our cast, to approach a new audience. In La bohème the intensity of the music is in constant dialogue with the fervent intensity and density of the performance. Humor and suspense are juxtaposed with the wonderful melodrama of the libretto and the music, creating a contemporary and direct show that is within the reach of all audiences.

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Director's Note

La Bohème at a glance / The composer
Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca, Tuscany, on 22 December 1858. He remains to this day one of the most renowned composers of Italian opera, as his works are regularly throughout the world. His musical style was already clearly developed by his third opera, Manon Lesacaut (1893), while his next three compositions, La bohème (1896), Tosca (1900) and Madama Butterfly (1904), firmly established Puccini as Verdi’s true heir.
The beautiful melodies and intense theatricality that define his operas successfully met the demands of their time. His last opera, Turandot (1926), remained incomplete due to his death in 1924.

The opera
La bohème, an opera lirica in four acts, is based on the novel Scènes de la vie de bohème (1845/8, 1851) by Henry Mürger and the play La Vie de bohème (1849), written by Théodore Barrière after Mürger. The libretto was written by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Ilicca. It tells the story of the love affair between the poet Rodolfo and the seamstress Mimì, from the moment they meet until Mimì’s death from tuberculosis.

Premieres
La bohème received its premiere on 1 February 1896 at the Teatro Regio in Turin and was conducted by Arturo Toscanini. The Greek National Opera presented La bohème for the first time on 17 April 1948 under Antiochos Evangelatos.