Ep. 147 Puccini's La Bohème

You cannot escape reality. That being said, artists since time immemorial have tried. Puccini’s La Bohème follows a group of young people seeking to escape the world of the ordinary, living in an attic and sacrificing everything for their art and romantic ideals. Our popular cultural image of the “starving artist” comes in large part from La Bohème and its descendants. Most famous among those descendants is Jonathan Larson’s Rent, which is directly based on Puccini’s opera. In turn, Puccini’s librettists owe much to author Henri Murger and others before him. This chain of tradition has gone on to inspire countless other works of art, and moves us–veterans and newcomers alike–to laughter and tears. You’ll likely find yourself wanting to go back to spend more time with these charming, flawed, thoroughly human bohemians.

Pat and co-host Kathleen Van De Wille are joined by Opera Omaha’s principal guest conductor, Steven White, and general manager, Allison Swenson. We are grateful for Opera Omaha’s help in our exploration of La Bohème.

Opera Omaha will be performing La Bohème November 13 and 15, 2026.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(146)

Ep. 146 Tristan und Isolde by Wagner

Before the story of Lancelot, Arthur and Guinevere, there was another story of a knight who clandestinely loves the wife of the king. With hazy origins at an unclear point in history, this story has b...

5 Okt 1h 58min

Ep. 145 Parsifal by Wagner

Richard Wagner refused to call Parsifal an opera, but instead considered it a rite of “consecration.” For many years, its performance was restricted to the small German town of Bayreuth: the destinati...

31 Aug 2h 11min

Ep. 144 Wagner's Lohengrin

Lohengrin is THE quintessential “knight in shining armor” coming to the rescue of a damsel in distress. Swanning in on his mysterious boat, he is a literal answer to her prayers. But though he may b...

15 Jul 2h 4min

Ep, 143 The Wreckers by Ethel Smyth

Cornwall in the mid-eighteenth century was a remote and isolated region along the southwest coast of Britain, one where a ship and its crew might easily be dashed on the jagged rocks. And sometimes, t...

8 Jun 1h 58min

Ep. 142 Alcina by Handel

A seemingly all-powerful sorceress rules over her own island domain. She enchants not only nature, but also men, who are helpless to resist her charms. And when she does tire of those besotted men, ...

10 Mai 1h 58min

Ep. 141 Attila by Verdi

Known to history as “The Scourge of God,” Attila was a rampaging conqueror who famously turned aside from the city of Rome after a meeting with the Pope. In this version, Attila is also opposed by a ...

12 Apr 1h 59min

Ep. 140 Moby Dick by Jake Heggie

All hands on deck! This episode of Opera for Everyone dives headlong into a leviathan of 21st-century opera: Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick (2010). Adapted from Melville’s classic American novel, this seafar...

9 Mar 1h 58min