Embrace the Boheme Life!

Boheme madness has begun!





The long-anticipated return of Giacomo Puccini's lush, romantic masterpiece to the MN Opera, happens this Friday, March 6th. And to kick off Bohemian season, the Opera is hosting some great celebrations and educational opportunities, like Bohemian Lifestyle for Rent TONIGHT (5:30-7 pm) at the Loring Pasta Bar in Dinkytown, Minneapolis. IT IS FREE! And I am going!
click the pic below for more details



check out the MN Opera's promo video

La Boheme, which is set in early 1800s Paris, among a group of struggling artists and penniless Bohemians, is all about beauty, romance, and youthful idealism. It is the beloved story that inspired the Broadway musical Rent, and is quite possibly the most popular opera of all time. It's a great first opera to see, if you have not been initiated into the wonderful world of opera. And certainly its' themes of struggle and beauty in times of despair, resonate with the state of things today.

I don't know if there are any tickets still available for La Boheme. But at Bohemian Lifestyle for Rent tonight, you'll have a chance to hear excerpts sung by the Mimi and Rudolpho leads, and enter to win free tickets! I've already snatched up mine, and will be posting plenty more updates, tributes, and fun in the next couple weeks to celebrate everything Boheme!



an early performance of La Boheme

Fall playLiszt

This post is all about autumn in Paris and what I was listening to at this time last year on my ipod on the metro rides from Maisons Lafitte- the musty, antique equestrian town, to Montmartre with its gray, sloping streets. It’s about patinas of decaying leaves covering everything, and spooky silhouettes of horses being walked like dogs down the street after sundown. It’s about walking in golden glow through the rows of trees in Jardin de Tuilleries, Debussy playing in my earbuds, and laughing at the cheesiness and perfection of the moment.

The only thing that can compete with Fall in Paris is Fall in Minnesota. So click on the link below and you can listen via Youtube, one selection at a time or as a continuous “playlist”- I like to open it up in a new tab so I can listen while I do other stuff on my computer.
I’ve been listening to a lot of string quartets. Something about the warm resonance of strings evokes autumnal tones for me. A lot of these works have a melancholy feel too; wistful and a little haunting like fall, which is all about death but also very romantic.












LISTEN TO FALL PLAYLIST HERE

1. Erik Satie - Trois Gymnopédie No.1 ( lonesome, lovely piano piece)

2. Alexander Borodin - Polovtsian Dances (from the slavic opera Prince Igor)

3. Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto for Two Mandolins, Strings & Basso Continuo
(warm/golden/harvest-y :)

4. Bach - Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major (played by Yo-Yo Ma..exquisite!)

5. Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares - Zhenala e dyulber Yana
(Bulgarian peasant songs- choral music)

6. Maurice Ravel- String Quartet in F Major
(this piece will brighten your gloomy day- TRUST me! It's my absolut favorite!)

7. Antonio Vivaldi - Four Seasons: Autumn ( mandatory, I guess...)

8. Claude Debussy - String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10
(my favorite work by my favorite composer- sweeping, romantic, heart-breaking, ecstatic...everything one is supposed to feel when one is in Paris!)

9. Puccini - Senzo Mamma, from the opera Suor Angelica
(lament for a dead child from the cloisters in Florence... sends shivers down my spine, especially when sung so purely, as in this version featuring Veronika Dzhioeva live from the Proms)

10. and last but not least...
watch this beautiful film someone made to Debussy's lush Reverie...



Now let's hear what you would add to the list!


* Sorry there wasn't any actual Liszt included ;)