Libretto: Guiseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, after Henri Murger’s Scenes de la vie de Boheme

La Bohème, directed by English director Ian Judge, turned out to be one of the most successful Puccini productions at the Mariinsky Theatre. It's pleasingly conservative, and although the setting is shifted from the 1830s to the 1930s, it doesn't harm the spirit of the music in the least. At the beginning and end of the opera, set in the attic rented by the artist Rodolfo, there's a huge window looking out over the Latin Quarter so picturesque that it could be listed as a character in the programme. The interior of the Café Momus, where the characters gather to celebrate Christmas, is meticulously detailed. It creates an almost cinematic atmosphere, tinged with the anxiety of the interwar period, yet not clashing with the music – instead, it adds a sense of the tragedy of the events and amplifies the joys in the lives of the characters. This production is a wonderful example of how to stage in a historical style while maintaining a sense of liveliness and freshness in a work created one hundred and twenty-five years ago. Denis Velikzhanin