I've started working on La Boheme. I'll be singing a concert with the last half of Act 1 and most of Act 3 this coming weekend.
La Boheme is one of the most popular operas in the world. My first opera experience was when I went to see a dress rehearsal of an Eastman School of Music production back in high school. I remember the opening of Act 3 and snow falling on the stage and the music and coming home from the show and convincing my father that I needed to see the show again. He acquiesed and took me to an evening performance.
After that, I found a VHS at the local public library with Pavarotti and Mirella Freni. I watched it quite a number of times. I loved the show but it never got me any further in studying opera. I always thought I was a Boheme fan, not an opera fan.
Fast forward to my junior year of college. I took my first Opera Workshop class and our first assignment was to sing an art song or aria while doing some sort of action. I tried to whittle a stick while singing a song from Die Schoene Muellerin. I remember being horrible at it.
After I sang my song, a colleague of mine got up and sang "Donde lieta" from Boheme. She put a bunch of her crumpled clothes a desk and opened a small duffel bag. The music started and she sang the aria and she slowly put her clothes into the bag. Just as she finished the aria, she found a framed photo at the bottom of the pile. She looked at it and delivered the last line, put the photo into the bag and zipped it up and walked away.
At that moment, I understood what power opera could have and, as I look back, it is a touchstone in my search for emotional truth as I work on my character development.
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