LA Opera Presents: La Boheme with Dudamel

I was so excited to see the premier performance by Dudamel conducting the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra on June 10th and indeed it was such a thrill. La Boheme is my all-time favorite opera. It was the first opera I ever saw as a young college girl. Every time I hear the music or see the Opera it just puts me in a trance. Interestingly, I sat next to a father and his 10-year old daughter who were both attending the Opera for the first time and I said “Oh you are so lucky because this is the first Opera I saw and it is so beautiful.” I think this young girl really appreciated this music. I thought back to my college years and how La Boheme was the reason I fell in love with Opera. To see it performed by a premier composer and our exquisite world-renowned LA Opera was just icing on the cake. It was a fantastic performance that was true to the original production by Herb Ross.

The LA Times wrote a rave review of the show — an absolute must see!

More on the show including the main stars:

Nino Machaidze as Mimi

Nino Machaidze is one of the most brilliant artists of today’s young generation of singers. Born in Tbilisi in Georgia in 1983 and a graduate of the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan, she appeared at La Scala as Marie in The Daughter of the Regiment in 2007. It was those performances, followed by her debut at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in the same role, that launched her international career. In the summer of 2008 she made a sensational debut at the Salzburg Festival as Juliette in a new production of Romeo et Juliette opposite Rolando Villazon. She has since made important international debuts in theaters including the Metropolitan Opera, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Berlin State Opera, Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, Theatre Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels, Oprea National, Paris, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and LA Opera. She then sung Fiorilla in The Turk in Italy at the Gran Tetaro del Liceu in Barcelona.

Engagements for the 2013/14 season included The Turk in Italy at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, The Elixir of Love at the Vienna State Opera, and a return to LA Opera in Thais. In the 2014/15 season, the artist’s engagements include returning to Hamburg State Opera in the title role of Luisa Miller and to LA Opera as Violetta in La Traviata. In the 2012/13 season she added the title role in Massenet’s Thais to her repertoire in Seville opposite the Athanael of Placido Domingo. She returned to the Theatre Royale de La Monnaie in a concert version of Romeo et Juliette. LA Opera appearances:Adina in The Elixir of Love (2009)Fiorilla in The Turk in Italy (2011)Juliette in Romeo et Juliette (2011)Title role in Thais (2014)Violetta in La Traviata (2014

Mario Chang as Rodolfo

Guatemalan tenor Mario Chang won the top three awards for male singer at Operalia 2014: first prize, zarzuela prize and audience prize. In the 2014/15 season, Mr. Chang joined Frankfurt Oper as an ensemble member, appearing as Rodolfo in La Bohème, the Italian Singer in a new production of Der Rosenkavalier and Cassio in Otello. Mr. Chang will also make his North Carolina Opera and role debut as Alfredo in La Traviata. He recently completed his third year with the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera, where his roles include the Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier. Recent highlights include a concert in Puerto Rico with Teatro de la Opera, the Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites with the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, his Carnegie Hall debut with the Musical Olympus Foundation, and his debut with the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne.

Janai Brugger as Musetta

Soprano Janai Brugger, an alumna of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, appeared with LA Opera most recently as Pamina in The Magic Flute (2013) and Musetta in La Bohème (2012). In the 2016/17 season, she will return to the Metropolitan Opera for performances as Micaela in Carmen, Jemmy in William Tell and Pamina in The Magic Flute. Janai Brugger is one of opera’s brightest rising stars. She was the 2012 winner of Plácido Domingo’s prestigious Operalia competition, taking all three prizes, and the same year she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She is the 2016 winner of the Marian Anderson Vocal Award. She recently made her Washington National Opera debut as Micaëla in Carmen, a role she will sing in April 2016 at Lyric Opera of Kansas City. She then returns to LA Opera as Musetta in La Bohème with conductor Gustavo Dudamel. In February 2016, she made her role debut as Norina in Don Pasquale at Palm Beach Opera, following her past success there as Juliette in Roméo et Juliette in 2010.

Recent highlights include her debut at London’s Royal Opera House as Pamina in The Magic Flute and a return appearance at the Metropolitan Opera as Helena in The Enchanted Island, which followed her debut in 2012 as Liù in Turandot. She has numerous concert and recital appearances to her credit, including the recent Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Series at Brooklyn Bridge Park and on Central Park’s SummerStage, as well as several appearances in the Met’s Rising Stars Concert Series nationwide. As a member of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, Ms. Brugger’s LA Opera appearances include Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro under the baton of Placido Domingo, the Page in Rigoletto with James Conlon, and Musetta in La Bohème with Patrick Summers.

Giorgio Caoduro as Marcello

Giorgio Caoduro is rapidly becoming one of the leading Italian baritones of his generation. He made his LA Opera debut in 2009 as Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’Amore. His appearances during the 2014/15 season include Sulpice in The Daughter of the Regiment in Palermo, Figaro in The Barber of Seville in Cosenza, and Valentin in Faust in Sydney, with subsequent appearances in the 2015/16 season as Papageno in The Magic Flute in Palermo and Marcello in La Boheme in Bari. He has made debuts in recent seasons at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Opéra National de Paris, Berlin State Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Aix-en-Provence and others. Caoduro completed his studies at the Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro with soprano Cecilia Fusco and was a winner in several competitions; among then the Lignano Sabbiadoro Competition and the International Singing Competition Associazione Lirica Concertisticain Milano.

In the 2010/11 season, Mr. Caoduro returned to La Scala as Belcore in a new production of L’Elisir d’Amore with Rolando Villazon and Nino Machaidze. He appeared as Dandini in La Cenerentola for Opera de Nice and as Figaro in The Barber of Seville in both Toulouse, Sydney and for Opera de Mahon, and was also heard in Las Palmas as Belcore and at Teatro Verdi Trieste in Lucia di Lammermoor. His engagements for the 2011-2012 season included The Barber of Seville for Teatro La Fenice, L’Arbore di Diana for Opera de Montpellier and Escamillo in Carmen for Opera de Lyon. In the 2012/13 season, he made his debuts at both Washington National Opera as Lescaut in Manon Lescaut and at Florida Grand Opera as Germont in La Traviata.