POA Festival Orchestra

Cast:
Rodolfo, a poet: Yuchen Pan (act 1 and 3), Benjamin Pregl (act 2), Ron Silberstein (act 4)
Mimì, a seamstress: Lucia Palladino, Xiangning Ouyang (act 1), Rosy Anoush Svazlian (act 2), Rebeka Pregelj (act 3), Andrea Rodríguez-Gómez (act 4)
Marcello, painter: Milan Obradović
Musetta, a singer: Talita Sofija Komelj (act 2), Olivia Haramis (act 3), Gaja Napast (act 4)
Schaunard, a musician: Lovro Korošec
Colline, a philosopher: Strahinja Djokić
Benoît, the landlord: Roland Sofoyan
Alcindoro, a state councilor: Roland Sofoyan
Parpignol, a toy vendor: Alexander Yau

Giacomo Puccini is considered the greatest Italian opera composer after Giuseppe Verdi. In 1895 he completed his fourth opera, La bohème,  a masterpiece of atmospheric tone-painting. The story is set in Paris in around 1830 and shows the bohemian lifestyle of a poor seamstress and her artist friends, before arriving at its tragic culmination. The depiction of the milieu inhabited by the penniless artists is entirely at the service of the unfolding melodrama, while any implied social criticism is relegated to the background. The concert performance of the opera will be conducted by George Pehlivanian, who studied with Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel and Ferdinand Leitner. He returns to the summer festival stage after ten years, having been a regular guest between 2004 and 2014. In 2020 he founded the Pehlivanian Opera Academy, which offers singers and conductors an excellent opportunity to hone their skills in the context of an opera production. By fostering mutual collaboration, the Academy aims to equip artists for a balanced career in the world of opera while also offering numerous opportunities for touring. Pehlivanian will relinquish the conductor’s podium to young conductors during the performance, while the singers will also exchange roles among themselves.

• the opera La bohème  was partly informed by Puccini’s own experiences as a poor student at the conservatoire in Milan between 1880 and 1883
• Puccini once pawned his only coat in order to be able to take out a young ballet dancer from La Scala; this is poignantly reminiscent of Act IV of La bohème,  in which Colline pawns his beloved coat, the final tie to warmth and comfort, in order to help the dying Mimì
• George Pehlivanian founded the Pehlivanian Opera Academy (POA) in Bled in 2020
• in 2022 George Pehlivanian founded the POA Festival Orchestra, the resident orchestra of Bled Festival Hall in Slovenia