Composer

Depending on the demand for their work, the penniless poet Rodolfo and his three witty artist friends live either in destitution or in the lap of luxury, squandering their money. When their neighbour Mimì appears in their garret one day, Rodolfo falls in love with the fragile young woman at first sight. But in the face of Mimì’s illness, the struggling artists are caught up in harsh reality.

La Bohème

Bebelplatz

Their relationship goes through ups and downs as they share the joys and challenges of an artist's life with their friends Marcello, Musetta, Schaunard and Colline. But tragic circumstances and the poverty of the times put their love to the test. A timeless story of love, loss and the pursuit of beauty.

Vienna State Opera

Heartache, heartbreak, the whole nine yards – four starving artists – love in a shabby attic loft – the swank boulevards where people live life with a capital "L", but Mimi is destined to die. Her tiny hand: ice cold! Otto Schenk's incredibly opulent, eternally valid production continues to fascinate audiences. All of Paris is magically transported onto the stage here.  So beautiful you could cry!

Max-Joseph-Platz

In 1853, the US battle fleet forced Japan to open its ports and enter into business with America. “The vigorous pressing of America’s handshake given kindly, but offered with zeal and capable of both striking and embracing at the same time – rocked the isolation of the Japanese and made them sensitive for their relationship towards the rest of the world“, according to the recollection of Captain M. C. Perry, then commander of the fleet. Puccini himself never visited Japan, but with his “Japanese tragedy“ about the geisha Cio-Cio-San and her love for American Naval officer Pinkerton, he created an affecting testimony for any form of one-sided cultural transfer. By choosing the “American way of life“ Cio-Cio-San accepts a cut-off from her past and her cultural traditions, but is left behind, pregnant and full of hope for the future which is finally cruelly dashed.

Madama Butterfly

Stuttgart Opera

A delightful collection of your favorite Christmas carols and light classics, including music by Johann Strauss, Bizet, Puccini, Mancini, Sousa and others. Soprano Kristin Vogel returns to celebrate the season with inspiring holiday songs and famous operatic arias. Acclaimed for her powerful lyric voice and onstage intensity, Soprano Kristin Vogel has been lauded for roles that require dramatic passion and sensitive musicality, such as Puccini’s Tosca, Mimi in La Bohème and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Performing regularly in Europe and the United States, she divides her time between Vienna and the Pacific Northwest.

Holiday Pops

Edmonds Center For the Arts

“Have you tortured me enough?”
Floria Tosca lives entirely for music and her love for the artist Mario Cavaradossi. When Cavaradossi is sentenced to death for his political activism against an inhumane regime, the singer too is on the brink. The jealous Baron Scarpia tries to blackmail Tosca: If she wants to save her lover from execution, she must give herself to Scarpia. Tosca pretends to accept the deal – and stabs Scarpia. But the path to freedom is deceptive. Scarpia's power extends beyond death.
In hardly any other opera are personal passion and political arbitrariness so closely intertwined and yet so cruelly exposed as in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca from 1900. The relentless reckoning with abuse of power and machinations, coupled with a deeply moving love story, continues to electrify audiences today, with a score that combines gripping drama and nerve-wracking tension with moments of enchanting beauty. Arias like Tosca's "Vissi d'arte" and Cavaradossi's "É lucevan le stelle" are not without reason considered icons of Italian vocal art.

Tosca

Staatstheater Hannover

Lieutenant Pinkerton is attached to an American ship currently moored in Nagasaki harbour. He has been courting a 15-year-old geisha girl named Cio-Cio-san, known as Butterfly, who is from a poor but genteel family and takes love very seriously. Pinkerton wants to enter into a “time-limited marriage” – not uncommon between European men and geishas at the time – and is even being helped by Goro, the marriage agent, to find a cottage in which they can spend their honeymoon. The US consul, Sharpless, warns him against such a step, but Pinkerton brushes him off and even toasts the day when he will take an American to be his “real” wife.

Madame Butterfly

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Cio-Cio-San, on the other hand, takes the marriage very seriously. She converts to the Christian faith and accepts the break with her family. Pinkerton returns to the USA.

Hilarity and glorious music abound in this Puccini one-act comedy as the Donati family’s grief over their “Dear Uncle Buoso’s” death quickly turns to greed as they scheme to keep their inheritance. The cleaver and creative Gianni Schicchi comes to the rescue – or does he? Featuring the beloved aria “O mio babbino caro,” brilliant ensembles, and lively characters, it is no wonder that Gianni Schicchi a perennial favorite among opera lovers and newcomers alike.

EPSG:4326

Mason Opera presents, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi

Hylton Performing Arts Center

Ruggero is young and wealthy, with his whole life before him. Magda is beautiful, worldly and wise – surely too wise to fall in love all over again? But amid the delights of belle-époque Paris, romance can be as intoxicating as champagne – and the heart, as they say, has its own reasons. In Puccini’s opera La rondine, they’ve never sounded sweeter.

Puccini's 'La rondine'

Barbican Centre

Ermonela Jaho stars in Puccini’s bittersweet romance, his opera La rondine, incorporating music that has not been heard this century. 

Ruggero is young and wealthy, with his whole life before him. Magda is beautiful, worldly and wise – surely too wise to fall in love all over again? But amid the delights of belle-époque Paris, romance can be as intoxicating as champagne – and the heart, as they say, has its own reasons. In Puccini’s opera La rondine, they’ve never sounded sweeter.

Inspired by Viennese operetta, La rondine is a bittersweet love story, set to some of the most romantic melodies that even Puccini ever wrote. But it’s also portrait of a world waltzing on the edge; a deeply moving study of innocence and (tender) experience. This one-off concert performance from the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Opera Rara stars Ermonela Jaho as Magda, and uses the newly restored final 1921 version of the score, incorporating music which is completely unknown today. Prepare to be seduced.

Puccini’s La rondine

Lieutenant Pinkerton has fallen in love with the geisha Cio-Cio-San, known as Madama Butterfly, and wants to marry her according to Japanese custom without entering into a permanent relationship. But Butterfly truly loves Pinkerton and has a child by him. For years she waits in vain for the lieutenant to return. When Pinkerton does return, he arrives with his new American wife to pick up the child, and Butterfly stabs herself with a dagger.

The 5,500 pipes of The Bridgewater Hall organ sing as Associate Artist Jonathan Scott performs a programme of some of the greatest music from the world of opera.

Jonathan Scott: The Organ at the Opera

The Bridgewater Hall

Rodolfo is a struggling poet burning his manuscripts to keep out the winter chill. Mimi is a fellow tenant with big dreams and a deadly illness. A chance meeting has them falling in love, but when you’re at the bottom of Parisian society, every day could be your last. 

Puccini’s blockbuster opera returns to our stage starring Janai Brugger as the sweet but suffering Mimi and Oreste Cosimo as the lovestruck Rodolfo, with Gihoon Kim and Erica Petrocelli as the on-again-off-again lovers Marcello and Musetta.

Resident Conductor Lina González-Granados leads Puccini’s transcendent score, awash in lavish Romanticism and gorgeous melodies. Director Brenna Corner helms a timeless production from Herbert Ross that the LA Times calls a “warm, nostalgic evocation of Paris in Puccini’s time.”

The Music Center

Heart-pounding drama, intense passion, and soaring melodies are a killer combination in this fateful day in the life of the diva Tosca.

In revolutionary Rome, the fiery, famous singer lives for art and love but finds herself in a life-and-death struggle when her lover, the painter Cavaradossi, is caught trying to protect a freedom fighter. Scarpia, the corrupt chief of police will stop at nothing to satisfy his lust for her. In this game of deadly political intrigue will Tosca submit to Scarpia’s desires or see her lover die? Can Scarpia’s evil reach from beyond the grave?

This spell-binding classic features some of Puccini’s best: “Vissi d’arte,” the opera’s most famous aria in which Tosca sings that she’s always lived her life for art and love; Cavaradossi’s “Recondita armonia”; Scarpia’s “Te Deum,” sung with self-satisfied villainy and madness; and “E lucevan le stelle,” Cavaradossi’s farewell to Tosca.

Centennial Concert Hall

It is the largest charity event of its kind organised by the German Red Cross in Germany: the festive opera gala of the Duisburg Red Cross is a highlight in the social life of the city and is in demand far beyond its borders. Soloists from the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of chief conductor Vitali Alekseenok will once again present a glittering musical programme for the 19th edition, waiving their fees in aid of the DRK.

DRK Gala

CityPalais

From Paris with love comes a tale of friendship and romance that will make you laugh and cry in equal measure.

Opera North - La bohème

Theatre Royal Nottingham

Ettinger Grigorian

San Carlo Theatre

It is a game of life and death initiated by the elusive Princess Turandot: each suitor for her hand must solve three riddles. Failure means execution. And so far, no prince has been able to win the great prize. But then a stranger arrives in the kingdom of Turandot, Prince Calaf, who is determined to take on the challenge. When he solves the riddles and claims the princess in marriage as agreed, he encounters a frightened woman who refuses to wed the stranger – and now the princess becomes the tortured one, for she must find out the prince’s name in order to keep her freedom. Unfinished at his death, Giacomo Puccini’s final opera was premiered as a fragment in 1926. This is a multi-layered masterpiece of great emotional intensity, musical brilliance and unique in its use of exotic Chinese melody. French stage director Marie-Eve Signeyrole makes her Semperoper debut with this operatic thriller.

Turandot

Semperoper Dresden

Puccini’s world-famous opera Madama Butterfly takes center stage this November. A dashing American officer marries a young geisha, and she gives up everything for love. Puccini’s soaring music follows her as she waits, dreaming of the day he’ll meet their child. But his return brings a devastating twist in this story of passion, betrayal, and heartbreak. César Delgado returns to Opera San José as the dashing yet unfaithful Pinkerton, with Emily Jensen making her Opera San José debut as the young Cio-cio San. Former Director in Residence Michelle Cuizon returns to OSJ to direct with Music Director Maestro Joseph Marcheso conducting.

California Theatre

Based on Henry Murger’s 1851 novel Scènes de la vie de bohème, Puccini’s soaring arias tell the tender tale of Mimi and Rodolfo as they face the perils of poverty. A story that transcends time and place, its message of love through adversity resonates deeply with our community’s spirit. In its characters we see ourselves—the artists, the dreamers, and the everyday people, who face challenges but never lose sight of love and connection.  

Keller Auditorium

OLPH Catholic Academy of Brooklyn

The highest purpose of poetry is to teach us to love.
 The greatest love story in opera, La Bohème remains eternally young. Set to a ravishing score, Puccini’s classic opera tells of the lives, loves, and losses of a group of young artists in a Bohemian quarter of Paris.

Whether you are new to opera or a long-time fan, don’t miss this moving work that audiences have adored for over a century, brought to life by a dynamic cast. La Bohème simply has no equal. Come fall in love all over again.

Overture Center for the Arts

As in all operas by Puccini, TOSCA is an illustration of how human attentiveness and pleasures of the palate can be mutually dependent if the composer’s artistic intentions become a benchmark for directorial interpretation. Puccini’s humane attentiveness is essentially dependent on an outcry and/or a sense of resignation. The pity inherent in his music does not content itself with abstract gestures; it wants to unsettle, to bring about change. Out of the “small things” named by Puccini as the source of his inspiration and the focus of his music “big things” grow – as long as we want them. Puccini’s choice of material owes something, directly or indirectly, to the spirit of Zola, Gorki and Hauptmann, and the link between that material and his compositional style places him likewise as a direct descendant of Verdi and an exponent of verismo. He was also known as an admirer of Wagner, although a Wagner imitator he assuredly was not.

A young Japanese woman falls for an American naval officer who promises more than he plans to deliver. A transporting story with a gutting conclusion.

Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium

Step into a world of elegance, artistry, and pure musical magic as the legendary Renée Fleming makes her Koerner Hall debut in a spectacular gala event - the most anticipated cultural evening of the season!

For those who seek the ultimate gala experience, an exclusive pre-concert cocktail reception and exquisite dinner set the stage for an unforgettable evening. This is the only way to secure the finest seats in Koerner Hall, offering unparalleled views and an opportunity to celebrate in the company of fellow arts patrons - all in support of The Royal Conservatory’s mission to develop human potential through leadership in music and the arts.

An Intimate Evening with Renée Fleming

The Royal Conservatory of Music

Set in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the late 1930s, La Bohème follows a group of young struggling artists as they experience the trials and tribulations of lives lived in art and love as the spectre of world war surrounds them. Centered around the somewhat toxic relationship between Rodolfo and Mimì as their passion flickers against the harsh truth of poverty and illness. Puccini’s beloved score breathes passion into every moment of the timeless libretto by Illica and Giacosa.

Riverview Theatre

This fall, step into a world of passion, sacrifice, and unforgettable music as A Night To Remember returns to the Belk Theater for a powerful evening honoring the iconic heroines of Giacomo Puccini.

A Night to Remember

Blumenthal Performing Arts Center

Gripping drama, heartfelt emotion, and clever comedy: Il trittico comes to HGO in the company’s first-ever full presentation of Puccini’s masterful trio of one-act operas. Led by acclaimed director James Robinson, the evening begins with Il tabarro, a tale of passion and betrayal set on the Seine, where the lives of a barge captain, his young wife, and her lover intertwine in a tragic crescendo.

Il trittico

Wortham Theater Center

Under the elegant direction of British conductor Leo Hussain and with the radiant presence of South African soprano Nombulelo Yende – Pretty's little sister – pure emotion, orchestral virtuosity and the dramatic power of lyric art come together. The program opens with a sparkling suite from Mozart's Idomeneo where grace meets dramatic intensity. Then, let yourself be enchanted by Puccini and his piece for strings composed in one night under the influence of intense emotion. The famous Bacchanale from Samson et Dalila by Saint-Saëns then sets the stage ablaze with its oriental colors and captivating rhythms. Finally, Richard Strauss closes this exceptional evening with excerpts from Capriccio , his "conversation in music" where the introductory Sextet, of unequaled harmonic subtlety, precedes the Final Scene, sublimated by the unique timbre of Nombulelo Yende. A dazzling tribute between classical grandeur, Puccinian lyricism, sensual exoticism and Straussian sophistication.

The great masters

Opéra Comédie

Opera for everyone: BMW Classics Concert

Sportanlage Sendling-Westpark

With its enchanting setting and spellbinding score, the world’s most popular opera is as timeless as it is heartbreaking. Franco Zeffirelli’s picture-perfect production brings 19th-century Paris to the Met stage as Puccini’s young friends and lovers navigate the joy and struggle of bohemian life. Sopranos Juliana Grigoryan, Angel Blue, and Aleksandra Kurzak trade off as the feeble seamstress Mimì, opposite tenors Freddie De Tommaso, Stephen Costello, Adam Smith, and Long Long as the ardent poet Rodolfo.

Lincoln Center

If silence had a sound, what would you hear? Maybe something like the massive stillness that opens Mahler’s First Symphony. A magical spring dawn, or the creation of life itself? It’s the starting point for a young artist’s journey through tragedy and triumph – a voyage through life and death, birdsong and fanfares, funeral marches and Viennese waltzes.

Mahler x Bernstein

Royal Albert Hall

In an ice-cold attic in Paris, the poet Rodolfo, the painter Marcello, the philosopher Colline, and the musician Schaunard dream of fame, art, and love: poor in money, yet rich in ideals. A chance knock at the door changes everything: Mimì enters Rodolfo's life. A love ignites, full of passion and hope – but Mimì is terminally ill. It soon becomes clear that even the greatest love cannot defy life's adversities...

La bohème

Globe Coburg

The UK’s most popular classical music station returns to the Royal Albert Hall for a 25th anniversary musical extravaganza – Classic FM Live at 25!

Classic FM Live with Viking

The celebrated singer Tosca lives only for art, until political intrigue suddenly disturbs her life and that of her lover, the painter Cavaradossi: When Cavaradossi hides the political refugee Angelotti, he is targeted by the unscrupulous police chief Scarpia, who has long had his eye on Tosca. To save Cavaradossi, Tosca not only has to betray Angelotti, but also give herself to Scarpia. Premiered in 1900, Puccini’s »Tosca« is practically unique in its close interweaving of political power and personal passions. The German premiere of this opera about love, jealousy, betrayal and tyranny was held in Dresden in 1902. Director Johannes Schaaf has found a timeless narrative style for his staging.

Set against the backdrop of 1830’s Paris, La Bohème follows four impoverished artists surviving with little more than friendship, passion, and their love for art.

When Roldolfo, a poet, and Mimì, a young seamstress, meet, the two are drawn into a tumultuous and passionate affair with a love that can only be broken by death.
La Bohème will make you laugh, and bring you to tears, with its timeless story and captivating music.

Benedum Center for the Performing Arts

Prepare for an unforgettable night at the opera as Tosca storms the stage of The Grand Opera House with passion, power, and Puccini’s heartstopping music.
Set against the backdrop of political unrest in 1800s Rome, Tosca is a white-hot thriller of love, betrayal, and resistance. When the celebrated singer Floria Tosca finds herself ensnared in the cruel schemes of the corrupt chief of police, Baron Scarpia, she is forced to make an impossible choice—to save her beloved Mario Cavaradossi or to maintain her integrity. What follows is a riveting, edge-of-your-seat descent into sacrifice and vengeance, culminating in one of the most unforgettable endings in operatic history.

The Grand Opera House

Prepare for an unforgettable night at the opera as Tosca storms the stage of The Grand Opera House with passion, power, and Puccini’s heartstopping music.

Set against the backdrop of political unrest in 1800s Rome, Tosca is a white-hot thriller of love, betrayal, and resistance. When the celebrated singer Floria Tosca finds herself ensnared in the cruel schemes of the corrupt chief of police, Baron Scarpia, she is forced to make an impossible choice—to save her beloved Mario Cavaradossi or to maintain her integrity. What follows is a riveting, edge-of-your-seat descent into sacrifice and vengeance, culminating in one of the most unforgettable endings in operatic history.

Puccini’s Tosca

What would opera be without its unforgettable arias? La Traviata , Romeo and Juliet , The Barber of Seville … These melodies that inhabit us, these emotions that transport us, are at the heart of this exceptional concert. Under the inspired baton of Marco Crispo, the Montpellier Orchestra, accompanied by the Opera Choir, invites us to rediscover the greatest masterpieces of the Franco-Italian lyric repertoire. Soprano Sheva Tehoval, dazzling with virtuosity and expressiveness, will bring to life the moving arias that make the magic of opera. A festive concert accessible to all, with these timeless arias that you will find yourself humming when you get home!

Revise your lyrical classics

The Grand Bazaar of Istanbul: a trading place of civilisations, in which the tales told are as countless as the treasures for sale. The eternal city of Rome, where la dolce vita thrives amid the memory of far older – and more savage – celebrations. An Irish legend of banshees and night terrors, retold by two of 21st century Britain’s liveliest musical voices and highlighting the wonderfully communicative gifts of saxophone virtuoso Jess Gillam.

Nil Venditti conducts Clyne, Puccini, Respighi and Say

Four cellists play everything from classical to rock to Bollywood at the library

Splntrd Wood

Edendale Branch Library

If you've never been through these doors, this is the perfect opportunity. Come enjoy a free and exceptional evening: discover a place steeped in history, listen to a live orchestral concert with choir, or simply spend a unique moment with friends. On the evening's program: the "Revise your operatic classics" concert, a food court, competitions... and many other surprises!

Opera for Students

Whether singing, dancing, or instrumental music – you can expect a diverse program in an intimate setting, performed by ensemble members, dancers from the Graz Ballet, members of the Graz Philharmonic, and guests. Admission is free!

Espresso concert

Oper Graz

Enjoy a seated dinner with drinks, meet and be serenaded by the stars of La Bohème while you mingle with friends old and new.

Opera Night – La Bohème

East Ridge Country Club

At the now traditional recitals, you will experience internationally renowned singers not in the usual opera productions, but with specially compiled song and aria programs.

Recital Rolando Villazon

Koo Conducts Barber

Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture

Puccini's La bohème stands as one of the world's most celebrated and frequently performed operas. This heartbreaking masterpiece, brought to life through Puccini's enchanting score, continues to captivate loyal enthusiasts while drawing in a new generation of opera-goers.

In Barbe & Doucet’s colourful production set in 1920s Paris, four struggling bohemians' lives are changed when they meet a seamstress called Mimì. A blossoming romance becomes short-lived when they discover that Mimì is ill. Struggling to survive in the lavish yet unforgiving city, these charismatic characters are met with the harsh realities of poverty and misfortune.

Puccini La bohème

Festival Theatre

Festival Theatre Edinburgh

Theatre Royal Glasgow

Eden Court Inverness

His Majesty's Theatre

Power. Passion. And a diva who refuses to go quietly. Puccini’s Tosca is a gripping tale of love, jealousy, and political intrigue set against the backdrop of a turbulent Rome. The glamorous and fiercely devout opera singer Floria Tosca is caught in a deadly triangle between her lover, the idealistic painter Cavaradossi, and the sadistic chief of police, Baron Scarpia. 

Towson University

The story of Cio-Cio-San is one of Giacomo Puccini's most beautiful love operas. And to think, the premiere of this production in 1904 at La Scala in Milan was one of the composer's most bitter experiences. The atmosphere in the audience was unbearable. The audience chanted "La Bohème!!!" – accusing the composer of duplicating musical passages, booed, and yawned loudly. The performance was a complete failure. Critics also lambasted the composer. Only after several changes were made and a performance at the Teatro Grande in Brescia did the opera triumph. Seven encores were required, and from then on, it has been a popular addition to the repertoire of opera houses around the world.

Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera

Set in medieval Florence, Gianni Schicchi is a sharp-witted one-act comic opera that explores themes of greed, deception, justice, and the power of love. When the wealthy Buoso Donati dies, his family is horrified to discover that he has left his entire fortune to a monastery. Desperate to keep the inheritance for themselves, they turn to the clever and street-smart Gianni Schicchi for help.

In a daring and hilarious scheme, Schicchi impersonates the dead man to dictate a new will—outsmarting the greedy relatives by securing the best parts of the estate for himself. Meanwhile, a heartfelt subplot unfolds as young lovers Rinuccio (Buoso’s nephew) and Lauretta (Schicchi’s daughter) hope that Schicchi’s scheme will also secure their future together.

With its biting satire, lively score, and iconic aria “O mio babbino caro,” Gianni Schicchi cleverly exposes the hypocrisy of high society while affirming that cunning and love can prevail—even in a world driven by selfishness.

Gianni Schicchi

Tri-Cities Opera Center

Grammy-winning soprano Renée Fleming draws inspiration from the vivid imagery of nature's beauty and the urgent need to protect our planet in Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene. This program seamlessly blends timeless classical works with modern compositions, reflecting our evolving relationship with the environment.

Renée Fleming, soprano

Segerstrom Center for the Arts

Princess Turandot never wants to belong to a man. To deter her suitors, she has passed a cruel law: anyone who wishes to marry her must first solve three riddles. If they fail, they are executed. Countless men have already met their deaths this way. Nevertheless, Prince Calaf feels attracted to Turandot. Ignoring the urgent warnings of his father and Liù, who loves him selflessly, he faces the riddles – and succeeds in solving them! But instead of taking Turandot as his wife against her will, he now gives her a riddle of his own…

Staatstheater Mainz

Opera Orlando kicks off its 10th Anniversary Season with Puccini’s beloved and timeless La Bohème: an indelible story of love and loss with soaring melodies and passion that served as the inspiration for the hit Broadway musical Rent.  

Set in 19th century Paris, this opera depicts the pure love of the poet Rodolfo and the seamstress Mimì, and the impoverished yet free spirit of young artists with dreams of future success. This romantic story is interwoven with dulcet melodies typical of Puccini. The scene featuring the famous arias "Che gelida manina" and "Mi chiamano Mimì" stands out among many operas as a beautiful scene of love. This production is packed with highlights, including the bustling Quartier Latin on the Christmas, the beautiful yet sorrowful vocal quartet of the lovers on their decision to part ways, and the moving final scene. The stage design is a portrayal resembling real Paris from the time, a major feat by director Jun Aguni . The psychological characterizations carefully woven throughout each act are deeply evocative.

New National Theatre

Powerful bars make it clear right from the start: «Tosca» is an operatic thriller about desire, betrayal, and abuse of power. With the title heroine, Puccini created a character who dedicated her entire life to the stage. Robert Carsen stages an enigmatic play about appearances and reality, theater and truth, while keeping pace with suspense-packed plot. Under the musical direction of Marco Armiliato, the dramatic triumvirate is made up of Sonya Yoncheva in the title role, Jonas Kaufmann as Cavaradossi, and Bryn Terfel in the role of Scarpia.

Zurich Opera House

A scandalous novel by Abbé Prévost from 18th century Paris tells of the "amour fou" between the young noble Chevalier Des Grieux and the bourgeois girl Manon Lescaut. Both violate morality and law in the name of love and become the most famous couple of their era. Manon is torn between a passionate love and her desire for a life of wealth and security. On the way to the convent, she is matched with a wealthy man by her brother but elopes with her lover. In the house of the wealthy Geronte, to which she returns, she is regarded merely as an attraction, yet choosing the loving Des Grieux and leaving everything behind proves difficult for her. During an escape attempt, she is arrested as a thief and sentenced to exile in the American colonies. Des Grieux, who attempts in vain to save her, follows her into exile, where their shared path ultimately ends in the desert. A tragic love story where love finds no place to unfold. The year 1893 marks a turning point for Italian opera: the 80-year-old Giuseppe Verdi retires from the stage with his last opera FALSTAFF. At the same time, there is no longer any doubt as to who will be his successor: with MANON LESCAUT, Giacomo Puccini experiences his first global success and creates a new Italian opera that reflects the spirit of the age: the emotions are intense and torn, the forms are free, the acts follow one another episodically and obey only the laws of passion. Puccini pays homage to the 18th century in the score, yet the fascination that Richard Wagner's music had on him is particularly felt with particular compulsion in this opera. Richness of colour, dramatic expressiveness, and emotive cantilenas make MANON LESCAUT a very special Italian opera work, with the most demanding tenor role Puccini ever wrote. The new General Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada opens his first season at the podium of the Gürzenich Orchestra with this premiere. Carlos Wagner, a director of international standing, makes his debut in Cologne with MANON LESCAUT.

Manon Lescaut

Cologne Opera

Jim Cornelison, famed for singing the Star-Spangled Banner, steps off the ice and joins Maestro Stephen Alltop and the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra to puck drop the 2025/2026 Season!

An opera afternoon﻿

Elmhurst Christian Reformed Church

Welcome to the Scottsdale Philharmonic’s Rhapsody in Blue & Beyond – A Season-Opening Celebration of Romance, Drama & American Brilliance!

We opened our 2025–2026 season with an exhilarating concert that blended iconic symphonic masterworks, beloved classics, and unforgettable solos. From the sweeping drama of Wagner to the jazzy brilliance of Gershwin, this program highlighted the beauty, power, and excitement of live orchestral music.

Rhapsody in Blue & Beyond

La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church

Romance and tragedy meet face to face in Puccini’s epic masterpiece Tosca.

TCU Place

Manon Lescaut flees to Europe, dreaming of a better life, where she enters into a passionate relationship with a student, Des Grieux. But their happiness is short-lived: fed up with living in penury she takes up with Geronte, working in his nightclub as a dancer. Des Grieux reappears and they rekindle their love. Geronte finds them and words are exchanged, he calls for the police, and Manon, unable to escape in time, is arrested. After fleeing to America together their journey ends in a desert.

Oper Frankfurt

We launch a new academic year with a spectacular evening at Barbican Hall, conducted by the internationally acclaimed Daniela Candillari.

Guildhall Symphony Orchestra & Chorus

A champion of Norwegian music, Edvard Grieg composed only two string quartets, the second of which is unfinished. The String Quartet No. 1 in G minor was premiered in Cologne on October 29, 1878, by the Heckmann Quartet. After hearing it in Wiesbaden, Liszt decided to perform it immediately in Rome, which earned the work a rather unexpected reception. As for the short string quartet Crisantemi (" Chrysanthemums "), it was composed by Puccini in 1890, in memory of Amedeo of Savoy, former King of Spain, and includes two themes later taken up in the final scene of the opera Manon Lescaut . Two rare works performed here by four members of the OPRL: an hour of musical pleasure to brighten up your lunchtime!

From the Fjords to the Alps

Philharmonic Hall of Liege

“One of the most lavish and intricate [productions] in the company’s repertoire” (The New York Times), Franco Zeffirelli’s glittering take on Puccini’s final masterpiece returns to the stage with three extraordinary casts bringing the rousing score to life. Sopranos Angela Meade, Anna Pirozzi, and Liudmyla Monastyrska star in the title role of the vengeful princess, whose frozen heart is thawed by the courageous prince Calàf, portrayed by tenors Michael Fabiano, Brian Jagde, and Roberto Alagna.

Calaf has solved Princess Turandot's riddles. But Turandot categorically refuses to marry the stranger, so Calaf offers her a way out. If she knows his name by the next day, he will kill himself and she will remain unmarried. And so an entire country sets out in search of this one name, and no one is allowed to sleep that night: ‘Nessun dorma’. In this act, you will experience how love can still blossom from this situation.

What's coming up? ... Turandot, Act 3

The most popular classical show in the UK returns to Manchester, combining the very best in classical music with magnificent lights and lasers! Ranging from a flood of pure white light to electrifying multi-coloured laser displays, the dazzling special effects bring to life the scenes and moods evoked by each glorious piece.

Classical Spectacular

But the chief of police, Scarpia, manages to track Cavaradossi down: He is to be executed. To save him, Scarpia demands physical devotion from Tosca, Cavaradossi's beloved. She agrees, receives the promise of a mock execution - and murders Scarpia. However, he has betrayed her and Cavaradossi is actually shot. For Tosca, life has become meaningless and she throws herself off Castel Sant'Angelo.

Join us at the OperaDelaware Studios for Puccini Portraits—an intimate evening of soaring melodies and unforgettable drama, featuring scenes from three of Puccini’s greatest masterpieces: La fanciulla del West, Madama Butterfly, and Tosca.
Experience the wild heart of the American West in La fanciulla del West, where a strong-willed saloon owner risks everything for love. Feel the devastating beauty of Madama Butterfly, a poignant story of love, betrayal, and resilience set in Nagasaki. And be swept away by the raw passion and political intrigue of Tosca, where love and sacrifice collide in the streets of Rome.
Performed by the acclaimed OperaDelaware Company Artists, this showcase on September 12 and 14 offers a rare opportunity to experience Puccini’s genius up close in the warm, immersive setting of the OperaDelaware Studios—where every note, gesture, and emotion resonates just steps from your seat.

Puccini Portraits

Opera Delaware Studios

The traditional opera gala on Friedensplatz marks the sparkling conclusion to the Cityring Concerts. Co-hosted by General Music Director Jordan de Souza, who also serves as musical director, and Heribert Germeshausen, Artistic Director of the Dortmund Opera, the gala features masterpieces from the operatic literature.

CRK2025 Opera Gala: Nessun dorma! – Let no one sleep!

Friedensplatz

The last hours of the singer Flora Tosca and artist Mario Cavaradossi's passionate love: they couldn’t escape the vortex of power and violence. Their attempts to break free from the unscrupulous Police Chief Scarpia’s system were in vain. The strength in Puccini’s opera lies in striking portrayals of extreme emotions, violence, jealousy and persecution. The composer decided on this work while watching a performance of Victorien Sardou’s play, with Sarah Bernhardt as Tosca. His music lives in the keenly sketched characters, their outpourings contrasting with lyrical moments. Director Andreas Kriegenburg homed in on their private lives, while liberating the characters from clichés: they could be people of today, broken by a brutal police state. Strong visual effects and detailed portraits of the three key protagonists turn his production into a study of the abuse of power and resistance.

Tony, Emmy, and five-time Grammy Award-nominated singer, songwriter, actor, and philanthropist Josh Groban possesses one of the most outstanding and instantly recognizable voices in music. A powerhouse vocalist and dynamic renaissance man, he’s sold over 35 million albums worldwide, headlined legendary venues on multiple continents, and has also entertained audiences with acclaimed film and television appearances. His catalog spans a series of chart-topping blockbuster albums: Josh Groban, Closer, Noël, Awake, Illuminations, All That Echoes, Stages, Bridges, and his most recent release, Harmony.

Josh Groban with the LA Phil

Hollywood Bowl

A shared flat in Paris’s bohemian world of artists and students: The lives of the poet Rodolfo and his friends are filled with talk of freedom, independence, art, as well as financial hardship. When Rodolfo falls in love with his neighbour Mimì, everything seems to have taken a turn for the better, but poverty and Mimì’s illness overshadow the relationship. The young couple become closely attached. Later they separate, only rediscovering their love when it is already too late. At the time of its premiere in 1896, Puccini’s best-known work broke new ground in Italian opera through its prosaic scenery and everyday subject matter. This staging by Christine Mielitz of Puccini’s fourth opera is one of the most popular productions at the Semperoper.

The opera season opens with Puccini’s masterful work in a new staging by Kasper Holten.

Directing a Puccini opera for the first time, Kasper Holten explores the relationship between art and politics in this gripping political thriller—tense, powerful, and filled with dramatic music.

Royal Danish Opera

Concert "Rome"

Schloss Moritzburg

At the very centre of Puccini’s late one-act opera is a nun with a tragic secret. Set in 20th century Italy, Suor Angelica follows the story of Sister Angelica, whose search for peace is troubled by her past. The opera contains some of Puccini’s most intimate and atmospheric music, including Angelica’s haunting solo, ‘Senza mamma’.

LSO: Puccini’s Suor Angelica

Usher Hall

One of the most beloved and celebrated singers of our time, five-time GRAMMY-winner Renée Fleming returns to SPAC with an all-new program alongside The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Renée Fleming

Saratoga Performing Arts Center

Chinese-American soprano Bizhou Chang is quickly becoming known for her warmth of tone and thrilling interpretations of opera’s most beloved roles. This past season, she performed the role of Pamina in the world premiere of The Temple: A Magic Flute Experience — an immersive production based on Mozart's The Magic Flute — with Opera Columbus and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Pensacola Opera. In the 2022-23 season, Ms. Chang was once again with Pensacola Opera performing Mimì in La Bohème, and she made her company debuts as Liù in Turandot with Opera Southwest and Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with Knoxville Opera. This season with Opera Orlando, Ms. Chang will sing Mimì in the MainStage opener La Bohème. 

BIZHOU CHANG, soprano

Operalogue: Puccini’s La bohème

Chautauqua Amphitheater

Chautauqua Institution

One of the world’s best-loved, most-performed operas returns to His Majesty’s Theatre for the first time in a decade.

Puccini’s beautiful and powerful opera shatters the hearts of its audience with its devastating story of betrayal set against the backdrop of 1904 Nagasaki, Japan.

The American, Lieutenant Pinkerton, marries young geisha Cio-Cio-San, and she believes his love is true. After Pinkerton returns to the United States, she bears a son and waits faithfully for his return. What follows remains one of opera’s most tragic stories.

This evening's performance by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus is supported by the Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky Fund for Voice and Chorus.

Andris Nelsons conducts Tosca

Tanglewood Music Center

One of Puccini’s most famous and best loved operas, Tosca is a story of passion, power and betrayal, where love burns brightly but is ultimately consumed by treachery and sacrifice, set against the political turmoil of Rome.

Clonter Opera Theatre

Learn about the birth of musical theater in Baroque Florence and trace its fascinating evolution all the way to the stages of Broadway. This immersive and entertaining performance blends storytelling, multimedia and live music, featuring pianist Konstantin Soukhovetski’s original arrangements of works by Handel, Massenet, Puccini and Andrew Lloyd Webber. With engaging anecdotes and a dynamic presentation, this one-of-a-kind performance offers a fresh perspective on the history of musical theater. A must-see for musical theater lovers and anyone curious about this beloved art form!

(R)evolution of Opera

Tosca, a tempestuous diva, lives for art—and for love. When Cavaradossi, her lover and a revolutionary painter, is targeted by Rome’s corrupt chief of police, Tosca is determined to save him—but at what price? Puccini’s lush score, written on the heels of La bohème, contrasts moments of exquisite tenderness with heart-stopping sonic spectacle.

The Glimmerglass Festival

‘Now is the time to go to Savonlinna if you are interested in world-class vocal art. The tenor Amadi Lagha plays the role of Calaf in Puccini’s Turandot in a way that is rarely heard, at least on Finnish opera stages’, wrote the reviewer from Helsingin Sanomat in 2018, and now this magnificence is coming back again. Princess Turandot is Ewa Płonka, a musician who has been transformed almost overnight from a concert pianist into an opera singer, and who is now in demand at the world’s foremost opera houses.

Olavinlinna

The Rhine In The Theater Koblenz Premiere In Ehrenbreitstein

Ehrenbreitstein Fortress

Voice and charisma – that is the unanimous, enthusiastic judgement of the critics when it comes to Jonathan Tetelman. »A star par excellence« is how the New York Times describes him. The Chilean-American tenor is on stage as Alfredo in »La Traviata« at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden or as Pinkerton in »Madame Butterfly« at the Metropolitan Opera and demonstrates his skills in a »dark-coloured tenor timbre« (SZ) and with »balsamic verve« (Der Tagesspiegel), while the audience listens spellbound. Jonathan Tetelman makes his Elbphilharmonie debut with a sonorous journey through the most beautiful tenor arias from the great operas of Puccini, Verdi and others.

Composer

Giacomo Puccini

Events

Upcoming events

Oct 13, 2024 - Jan 1, 2026

Tosca · Staatsoper Hamburg

Aug 31, 2025 - Jan 24, 2026

Tosca · Royal Danish Opera

Sep 5, 2025 - Jan 2, 2026

Tosca · Oper Frankfurt

Sep 20, 2025 - Apr 20, 2026

Tosca · Wiener Staatsoper

Sep 23, 2025 - Jun 6, 2026

Turandot · The Metropolitan Opera

Past events

Dec 20, 2025 - Jan 10, 2026

La Bohème · Staatsoper Berlin

15 - 25 Dec, 2025

La Bohème · Wiener Staatsoper

About

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