As one of the first batch of artists who lived in the 798 Art Zone, stage designer Zhang Qingshan has his own appreciation of the place. He is familiar with 798, because he has lived there for a long time. From a shabby area with abandoned factories to a thriving artist community, the 798 Art Zone is bound to be a suitable place for La Boheme to be set.
As the first opera that the NCPA has produced this year, this version of La Boheme is definitely a great channel for more people to be introduced to the magnificent world of opera.
About Giacomo Puccini
As one of the greatest composer in the world, Giacomo Puccini’s operas, which include La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire. Some of his arias, such as "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi, "Che gelida manina" from La bohème, and "Nessun dorma" from Turandot, have become part of popular culture.
The subject of Puccini's style is one that has been long avoided by musicologists; this avoidance can perhaps be attributed to the perception that his work, with its emphasis on melody and evident popular appeal, lacked "seriousness".
Despite the place Puccini clearly occupies in the popular tradition of Verdi, his style of orchestration also shows the strong influence of Wagner, matching specific orchestral configurations and timbres to different dramatic moments. His operas contain an unparalleled manipulation of orchestral colors, with the orchestra often creating the scene's atmosphere.
Another distinctive quality in Puccini's works is the use of the voice in the style of speech: characters sing short phrases one after another as if they were talking to each other. Puccini is celebrated, on the other hand, for his melodic gift, and many of his melodies are both memorable and enduringly popular. These melodies are often made of sequences from the scale, a very distinctive example being Quando me'n vo' (Musetta's Waltz) from La bohème and E lucevan le stelle from Act III of Tosca. Today, it is rare not to find at least one Puccini aria included in an operatic singer's CD album or recital.
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