From September 12 to October 14, 2025, theOpéra Bastille hosts a new series of performances of La Bohème, one of Giacomo Puccini's most popular masterpieces, composed in 1896. Inspired by Henri Murger's Scènes de la vie de bohème (Scenes from Bohemian Life), the libretto traces the loves and hopes of an artistic and penniless youth in 19th-century Paris. Claus Guth's staging, already familiar to Parisian audiences, offers a sensitive, dreamlike reading of the work, placing the action in a symbolic spatial universe on the border of memory.
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Rodolphe, a young poet, lives in a garret with his artist friends. When he meets Mimi, a sickly young embroiderer, an intense and tragic love affair begins. Around this central couple gravitates a small world of friendships, laughter, arguments and grief. " La Bohème" portrays the impulses and frailties of a generation full of life, but confronted with precariousness and finitude. Through a moving score, Puccini celebrates the beauty of simple things and the pain of their disappearance.
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The show would appeal equally to opera lovers and to audiences wishing to discover the operatic repertoire. With its accessible music, famous arias ("Che gelida manina", "Mi chiamano Mimì"...) and moving narrative, La Bohème is an ideal gateway to the world of Italian Romantic opera. Claus Guth's staging, with its uncluttered, space-like set, would introduce a poetic, contemporary distance, likely to interest an audience sensitive to bold visual rereadings.
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On the other hand, those expecting a faithful recreation of 19th-century Paris may be surprised by this symbolic transposition, with its emphasis on memory and nostalgia rather than realism.
First performed in Salzburg in 2007, then revived in Paris in 2017, this staging by Claus Guth transposes the story to a space setting, as if Rodolphe were revisiting his memories aboard a spaceship. This approach reinforces the opera's melancholy dimension, accentuating the idea of a lost time that can only be relived mentally.
With La Bohème, Puccini offers a tender and moving fresco on youth, love and art. Buoyed by Claus Guth's introspective staging, this new series of performances at theOpéra Bastille will appeal to both the faithful and the curious in search of lyrical emotion and beauty. To be discovered from September 12 to October 14, 2025.
This article is based on available sources, in particular information provided by the Opéra national de Paris. The show has not been viewed by the editorial staff.
This page may contain AI-assisted elements, more information here.
Dates and Opening Time
From September 17, 2025 to October 14, 2025
Location
Opera Bastille
Place de la Bastille
75012 Paris 12
Access
Metro lines 1, 5 and 8, "Bastille" station
Booking
www.operadeparis.fr
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