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Image: Elena Xanthoudakis, who will make her debut as Mimi in La Bohème
In honour of the centenary of the great Italian composer’s death, Melbourne Opera (MO) will present a Puccini Festival from 15-25 September.
Following the success of The Ring Cycle Cultural Festival (Victorian Tourism Award Winner), Melbourne Opera's Puccini Festival promises a degustation of Puccini's most-loved hits featuring some of Australia's finest singers.
The festival will include a new fully staged production of Puccini’s most popular and romantic opera La Bohème as well as a Puccini Gala. The gala comprises a concert performance of Puccini’s one-act masterpiece Suor Angelica, followed by a highlights concert featuring selections from Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Manon Lescaut and Turandot.
La Bohème will play for four performances on 15, 18, 21 and 24 September, while Italian opera lovers can attend the Puccini Gala on 22 or 25 September.
La Bohème will feature an extraordinary cast including two of the country’s leading sopranos on stage together for the first time, Elena Xanthoudakis debuting as Mimi and Helena Dix as Musetta. The singers began singing together with the Australian Girls Choir, and both went on to illustrious international careers and moved to the United Kingdom.
Helena Dix will also perform the title role in the all-female cast Suor Angelica, joined by mezzo-soprano Deborah Humble (The Ring Cycle) and supported by a suite of outstanding new female singers from the Richard Divall Program. Lee Abrahmsen (The Ring Cycle) will lead the Puccini highlights concert which also features Michael Lapina, Chris Hillier and the Melbourne Opera Chorus and Orchestra.
La Bohème will be directed by the award-winning Gary Abrahams (Red Stitch, Melbourne Theatre Company) and conducted by MO Head of Music and Chorus Master Raymond Lawrence alongside the company’s founding patron, producer and resident conductor Greg Hocking AM.
Gary Abrahams says Melbourne Opera's La Bohème promises to deliver on the absolute romanticism of Puccini's beloved opera.
“Taking its cue from the anachronism of an Italian libretto set in Paris, this production conjures an imagined 19th century Parisian-inspired bohemian Melbourne as the backdrop for these doomed bohemians and leans into drama, romantic idealisation and tragedy,” says Gary.
 Image: Helena Dix, who will star in both La Bohème and Suor Angelica
First performed in 1896, La Bohème recounts the tragic love story of Mimi and Rodolfo and their bohemian friends.
“La Bohème is the original prototype of a story that has had many forms over the centuries and has influenced so many other pop cultural phenomena. It’s about artists struggling through impoverishment with humour and playfulness, and a passionate love affair destined to be short-lived.”
Gary says the music is the primary driver of this production which features many of opera’s best-loved arias and ensembles.
“I am beyond excited to work with this extraordinary cast. It will be a ravishing treat for opera lovers longing for something traditional, romantic, lush and playful," says Gary.
Both hailing from Melbourne with careers that have evolved in parallel, Elena Xanthoudakis and Helena Dix have performed all over the world, with highlights including Helena’s title role in Norma at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and Elena’s role as Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi for the Greek National Opera. Elena most recently had the title role in MO’s Lucia di Lammermoor, while Helena played the title role in MO’s Maria Stuarda.
Some of Melbourne’s most loved opera singers will be joining the cast including Boyd Owen (Normanno in MO’s Lucia di Lammermoor) as the lovestruck poet Rodolfo, Christopher Tonkin (Donner in MO’s Ring Cycle) as the painter Marcello and Stephen Smith as Schaunard. Bass-baritone Darcy Carroll will return from Germany as the philosopher Colline and celebrated performer John Bolton-Wood will perform Benoit / Alcindoro.
Melbourne Opera, which receives no government funding, stages multiple full-scale productions each year on Melbourne’s main stages. The company gives many young singers and musicians invaluable professional experience at the outset of their careers in the company of distinguished experienced artists. As well as mainstream repertoire, the company also presents many lesser-known masterpieces.
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