La Boheme Glyndebourne Autumn Season

"It has been three years since I saw Dutch director Floris Visser's production of Puccini's La boheme at Glyndebourne during the 2022 Summer Season. An opera I know and love, Visser's version still feels like a jolt. He takes the familiar bohemian Paris and reimagines it as a monochrome fever dream, all gleaming cobbles and looming shadows. From the opening bars, the heroine's fate hangs visibly over the stage. This is the first revival since the 2022 Summer and Touring Seasons, directed by Rachael Hewer."

"Puccini's four-act opera, with a libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica after Henri Murger's Scenes de la Vie de Boheme, is built on the 19th-century obsession with the femme fragile. Consumptive heroines like Violetta and Mimi have always tugged at modern audiences, and post-Covid that fascination feels oddly sharpened. The story revolves around two couples. Rodolfo, sung by Andres Agudelo, falls for Mimi, sung by Aida Pascu."

"Agudelo, in his second Glyndebourne Autumn Season after Alfredo in La traviata in 2024, brings an easy charm and a ringing lyric tenor. Che gelida manina was neatly phrased and the high Cs at the close of O soave fanciulla rang out with genuine thrill. Pascu, making her debut, is a lovely Mimi. Her bel canto line is poised, her top notes float,"

Floris Visser's production reimagines bohemian Paris as a monochrome fever dream of gleaming cobbles and looming shadows, with the heroine's fate visible from the opening bars. This revival, directed for the run by Rachael Hewer, stages Puccini's four-act opera based on Murger's Scenes de la Vie de Boheme, emphasizing the 19th-century obsession with the femme fragile and a post-Covid sharpening of that fascination. Andres Agudelo sings Rodolfo with youthful impetuosity and a ringing lyric tenor; Aida Pascu debuts as a poised, fragile-voiced Mimi. Aksel Daveyan's Marcello offers muscular warmth and Camilla Harris's Musetta is bright, glamorous and dangerous.

Read at www.london-unattached.com