La bohème Tickets

Back at the ENO by popular demand, Jonathan Miller’s legendary production of La bohème is intense, beautiful, and impossible to resist. Expect hope and heartbreak accompanied by Puccini’s exquisite music. Star-studded singers bring this lovely story to dazzling life.

La bohème - The Story

This opera weaves a lyrical love story that’s just as heart-warming and heartbreaking as it was when Puccini created it 130 years ago. It goes like this: Parisians Mimì and Rodolfo fall in love. They’re poor but happy, believing their great passion will sustain them, but when Mimi falls ill Rodolfo faces an impossible choice. The couple’s cruel reality is poverty and ill health. Will their love withstand the coming storm?

The production is also visually stunning, inspired by black and white 1930s photos of life in Paris taken by Brassai, the famous Hungarian–French photographer, sculptor, writer, and movie maker. He photographed Paris’s dark side as well as its light, giving this production a bohemian edge. Puccini’s masterful score suits this setting perfectly.

Exceptional opera talent

The internationally renowned tenor Joshua Blue joins the ENO for the first time for the show, singing the role of Rodolfo alongside ENO favourite Nadine Benjamin who sings Mimì.

Joshua Blue made his Houston Grand Opera stage debut as Wilson in the world premiere of Intelligence by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, conducted by Kwamé Ryan. His voice has wowed audiences as Tamino at the Metropolitan Opera, and with the American Symphony Orchestra and Leon Botstein for Dvořák's Requiem at Carnegie Hall. His long list of great opera credential seals his reputation as something special.

Nadine Benjamin MBE is a former ENO Harewood Artist. A superb Verdi Soprano, she aced the ENO’s Olivier Award-nominated production of Blue, singing the role of The Mother in the UK première of Janine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s important new work. She also sang the role of Musetta in ENO’s 2019 La Bohème.

The current Harewood artist, Patrick Alexander Keefe, plays Schaunard. He has been described as ‘one to watch’ thanks to his impressive ENO debut as the Marchese d’Obigny in La Traviata. This revival is directed by Crispin Lord and conducted by Italian pianist-conducto Clelia Cafiero. It’s her ENO and UK Opera debut. The show comes your way in co-production with Cincinnati opera.

La bohème will immerse audiences in Puccini's masterful blend of poignant romance and evocative music, capturing the essence of love and loss in bohemian Paris.