could have one of its fullest houses since the pandemic on Saturday for its one and only 做厙勛圖 performance of Puccinis La Boh矇me as it opens its 2024-25 Main Stage series.
La Boh矇me is the first of three productions the company will mount through September.
The houses that well have both in Phoenix and 做厙勛圖 are some of the fullest weve had in years, Arizona Opera Executive Director Joseph Specter said last week, days before La Boh矇me opened at Symphony Hall in downtown Phoenix. And its wonderful to look at the floor of the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall and see all of those seats filled.
As the 2023-24 season wrapped last spring, the company announced sweeping changes to its upcoming season that included reducing productions from four to three and launching its Beyond Downtown series of performances held in non-traditional spaces including parks.
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But the biggest change was reducing performances in 做厙勛圖 from Saturday night and Sunday afternoon to a single 2 p.m. Saturday performance.
Just to speak the obvious, certainly our aspiration is to grow programming again over a period of time, said Specter, who announced in July plans to leave his position at the end of this season. Our goal in this day and age is to figure out how we can meaningfully deliver on our mission as effectively as possible, reaching as many people as we can and as responsibly as we can within the financial constraints.
From left, tenor SeokJong Baek (Rodolfo) and soprano Caitlin Gotimer (Mim穫) in a scene from Arizona Operas production of Puccinis La Boh矇me. There is one 做厙勛圖 performance at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1.
Saturdays performance of Puccinis perennial fan-favorite La Boh矇me comes exactly five years to the day that the company performed it last in 2020.
La Boh矇me takes place in early 19th century Paris in an apartment thats home to a handful of struggling, penniless artists who cant afford to buy a candle to keep the place lit much less fuel to keep warm.
That joyfulness of youth, the way that its captured so beautifully, dramatically and musically by Puccini, you know this Bohemian life, Specter said. Who hasnt had some version of that in their own life, right? You might not have done it in Paris, and you might not have been a poet or a painter, but who hasnt had that moment of time when they felt their spirit was just, you know, totally free and released.
The opera is centered on the tragic love story between the young poet Rodolfo and Mim穫, a penniless seamstress in the final stages of terminal tuberculosis.
I think its just so powerfully drawn. Whether youve experienced a moment of loss like that in your life or not, there is something just so incredibly cathartic and wonderful about the way that that story is brought to life so truthfully and so powerfully, Specter said, praising Puccinis music that just fills your heart through the entire thing.
La Boh矇me, part of the 2025 , features an impressive cast, Specter said, including soprano and Marion Roose Pullin Arizona Opera Studio alum making her role debut as Mim穫.
She has this incredibly beautiful, full Italianate voice, and her sense of phrasing just brings the pathos of Mim穫 to life in such a beautiful way, said Specter, who met his wife Kate when both sang in a production of La Boh矇me in 2000.
Tenor , making his role debut as Rodolfo, returns to Arizona Opera several years after making his company debut in Tosca.
Im so happy to make my role debut in Arizona, he said. I thought this role would be very challenging because its a bit higher than other particular roles like Tosca. It fits my voice.
Specter praised the entire cast including Arizona Opera Studio members bass-baritone Peter Barber and baritone Yichen Xue; soprano Emma Marhefka; and critically-acclaimed baritone Gordon Hawkins, who now teaches at Arizona State University.
Saturdays performance begins at 2 p.m. at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets are $45-$215 through .
The performance runs 2翻 hours with one 30-minute intermission.
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Bluesky @Starburch
Cathalena E. Burch
Reporter
