Puccini was not the only composer to write an opera based on the Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger: Ruggero Leoncavallo also, in those same years, devoted an opera to the adventures, pranks, loves, and sorrows of the young bohemians of Paris. Time has favored Puccini’s version, which has remained firmly in the repertoire, while Leoncavallo’s version, premiered a year later in 1897, has been forgotten. Right here at the Regio, the birthplace of Puccini’s masterpiece, La bohème by Leoncavallo is presented again to the public in a rare staging, offering the chance to observe Marcello, Rodolfo, Colline, Schaunard, and a city teeming with life from a different perspective—one more faithful to Murger’s text and perhaps also more realistic, yet with music that does not forgo melodic effusion, a taste for pastiche, and the rapid succession of moments of playful lightness and dramatic intensity: all elements in which the composer of Pagliacci has few rivals. The female characters also include Eufemia, who joins the contrasting figures of Mimì and Musetta, portrayed respectively by Francesca Dotto and Anna Goryachova. Rodolfo and Marcello have vocal roles reversed compared to Puccini’s version: here the tenor is Marcello, performed by Matteo Lippi, while Rodolfo is the baritone Alessandro Luongo. With this production, Francesco Micheli offers a further interpretation of Leoncavallo’s theatrical universe and the bohemian story. From the podium, Andrea Battistoni continues his exploration of Italian musical verismo.

Arseny Yakovlev

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Oct 27 - Nov 22, 2026

La bohème · Teatro Regio Torino

Future and recently performed repertoire

Marcello in La bohème by Leoncavallo

Teatro Regio Torino

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