The people have spoken! On 15 July, at Targ Węglowy, the spectacular Zeffirelli production of La bohème from The Met will be shown. It’s got as much as 42% yeas, outclassing King Roger (18%), L’elisir d’amore (16%), Un ballo in maschera (13%), and L’Orfeo (11%). In total, 830 people took part inthe vote. The show is free and open for all. Jerzy Snakowski, an opera expert, will provide live commentary.

‘The Met don’t like experiments on stage but they sure do love stars. La bohème to be shown is what God and Puccini meant it to be. It was directed by old master Franco Zeffirelli, which guarantees lavish and realistic scenery, dynamic ensembles, and nuanced acting. The main parts are performed by singers who meet the high standards of contemporary audiences. They’re great actors, they look good, and they’re great singers. The sexy Kristina Opolais and the last of the great Italian tenors, Vittorio Grigolo: he excels at phrasing and the high register parts, a she’s dying so beautifully that we can expect a session of collective weeping. Sit back, and feed your eyes and ears,’ says Snakowski.

The open air presentations at Targ Węglowy are very popular not only among opera-lovers. Once a year, on a summer night, a crowd of Gdansk citizens sits in front of a huge LED display to watch an opera chosen in a vote by trojmiasto.pl users, and listen to Jerzy Snakowski, an opera expert, commenting and talking with special guests. It is the eighth time the show at Targ Węglowy is organised by the CCI.

The first two editions of the event were organises as part of Viva Europa, which was a huge European project live-streaming operas from Valencia. In 2012, in spite of the fact that the European project was discontinued, the CCI decided to carry on with the shows and chose the production of Verdi’s La Traviata starring Anna Netrebko and Roland Villazon. In 2013, we showed Bizet’s Carmen. In 2014 –
Mozart’s The Magic Flute staged on Lake Constance in Bregenz. In 2015, Verdi’s Aida brought crowds to Targ Węglowy. In 2016, it was Puccini’s Turandot.

Gicomo Puccini La bohème

Conductor: Stefano Ranzani, director: Franco Zeffirelli. Main parts: (Mimě)

Kristine Opolais, (Rodolfo) Vittorio Grigolo, (Musetta) Susanna Phillips, (Marcello)

Massimo Cavalletti

Metropolitan Opera House. Production from 2014 roku. Duration: 124 minutes

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Organised by: CCI

Media sponsor: www.trojmiasto.pl

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