Diego Torre (Rodolfo), Vasilij Ladjuk (Marcello), Marita Sølberg (Mimì), Jennifer Rowley (Musetta), Giovanni Battista Parodi (Colline), Shane Lowrencev (Schaunard) & Svein Erik Sagbråten (Benoit/Parpignol/Alcindoro/Toll Gate Keeper/Death)
Norwegian National Opera Chorus, Norwegian National Opera Children’s Chorus & Norwegian National Opera Orchestra, Eivind Gullberg Jensen (conductor) & Stefan Herheim (director)
DVD Video
$32.75
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Set & Costume Designer Heike Scheele
Lighting Designer Anders Poll
Dramaturgy Alexander Meier-Dörzenbach
Stefan Herheim, one of the worlds’ most sought after operatic directors, superimposes the modern over the traditional in this dramatic and thought provoking new version of Puccini’s La bohème.
Freedom, love, and even death all demand a price that must be paid and the opera opens with Mimì (Marita Sølberg) dying of cancer in a modern intensive care unit; the overture begins just after the ECG machine displays its unmistakable flat green line.
With Norway’s internationally renowned Eivind Gullberg Jensen conducting, the production reaches superb heights of operatic drama.
February 2013
“High-concept productions often demand musical distensions but...this La boheme is a vital, middle-of-the-road reading, full of discipline and integrity, thanks, no doubt, to conductor Eivind Gullberg Jensen. The cast's singing is clearly invigorated by these fresh staging ideas...Don't schedule any social engagements after watching this. You might not be in any shape to keep them.”
New York Times
23rd November 2012
“Herheim creates productions that are larger than life: intellectually charged but joyously theatrical. Little of his work has been captured on DVD, which makes this “Bohème,” which he made for the Norwegian National Opera, a must-have. ..The production is a surreal, moving experience: sometimes mystifying but ultimately haunting.”
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