By Jasmine Agnes T. Cruz
Opera
La Boheme
Presented by Manila Chamber Orchestra Foundation
Nov. 26, 7 p.m.
Ayala Museum, Makati Ave. corner De la Rosa St.,
Greenbelt Park, Makati City
MANY THINK that operas are for old people. Hoping to change this perception, the Manila Chamber Orchestra Foundation (MCO Foundation), together with the Viva Voice Singers, is staging Italian composer Giacomo Puccini’s La Boheme, an opera that centers around the lives of young characters.
Puccini’s music accompanies the libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Its story is based on the novel Scene de la vie Boheme by Henri Murger.
To be presented on Nov. 26 at the Ayala Museum, the four-act opera is a fully staged version with costumes, and a sparse set of furniture and projections. There have been changes in this production — instead of 1830s Paris, this version is set in present-day Baguio, but it will still tell the tale of a poet named Rodolfo, an embroiderer named Mimi, a painter named Marcello, a musician named Schaunard, and a philosopher named Colline, young people who struggle with poverty, fall in love, and battle illness. It will be sung in Italian with English and Tagalog subtitles.
Those who are more familiar with Broadway than opera will be interested to know that the hit musical Rent is based on La Boheme.
“I chose La Boheme because it is an opera about young people — their lives, their heartbreak, their choices,” said Camille Lopez Molina, music director and director, who spoke with BusinessWorld on Nov. 15. “It is an engaging story because the characters are real people you can recognize. They are not remote heroes and heroines but flesh and blood. They make mistakes, they fall in love, they’re capricious, they have weaknesses, they grow up.
“Baguio was the logical choice for Boheme for the simple reason that it’s the coldest place we have in this country, and that is the basis of the characters’ problems in the story — they’re cold,” she continued. “Being alone and hungry isn’t so bad when you’re sweating and you can go around to ask people for money or food. But the moment it’s cold, you just want to curl up someplace warm and not move. So setting the opera in Baguio during the ‘-ber’ months is really the closest we can get to Christmastime in Paris.”
Ms. Molina said she is confident that Viva Voice, a group composed of young singers, can step up to the challenge. “Viva Voce has evolved. The young people in this batch have a long way to go, but they have already really matured physically and vocally,” she said.
“Boheme is perfect because young people find it easy to relate to the characters in the opera. We’re also lucky that we have the right voices for it. Even though we’re only performing with piano, I have no doubt these young singers can perform their roles well with an orchestra.”
For tickets, call TicketWorld at 891-9999, or MCO Foundation at 997-9483 or 0920-954-0053, or visit www.events.ph.
