La Boheme

Nicola Luisotti, San Francisco Opera’s music director designate and a master of the Italian repertoire, conducts Puccini’s most beloved opera. This heartwarming story of starving artists falling in and out of love in 19th-century Paris is a seamless mix of romantic passion, poignant tragedy and high-spirited fun. The superb cast is headed by Polish tenor Piotr Beczala (Tamino in 2007’s The Magic Flute ) and Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu (Magda in 2007’s La Rondine ), who has wowed critics and audiences with both the beauty of her voice and the depth of her characterizations. “The opulent-voiced Gheorghiu thoroughly inhabited Mimì in an emotionally convincing, multifaceted way you don’t see or hear very often,” said the Los Angeles Times.