Puccini's La Bohème opens at Lyric on Saturday, March 15

View La Bohème images here

CHICAGO (3/14/2025) — Love burns bright in the City of Light as Puccini’s La Bohème returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago on Saturday, March 15, 2025.

In his Lyric debut, Pene Pati takes center stage alongside Ailyn Pérez as the star-crossed Parisian lovers Rodolfo and Mimì. The opera also stars Lyric favorites Gabriella Reyes as Musetta and Will Liverman as Marcello.

Jordan de Souza returns to Lyric to conduct the powerful Lyric Opera Orchestra. The opera also features the 60-person Lyric Opera Chorus, led by Chorus Director Michael Black, plus the Uniting Voices Chicago children’s choir led by Josephine Lee. Director Melanie Bacaling brings La Bohème to life in a vibrant new-to-Lyric production for all Chicagoans to enjoy.

With its stirring music and unforgettable characters, this production brings the heart of Paris to the Lyric stage and reminds us why La Bohème — the inspiration for the iconic Broadway musical Rent — remains one of the most beloved operas of all time. We hope audiences can join us for Puccini’s timeless story of love and longing.

View La Bohème Images Here

A high-resolution video trailer will be available soon on Lyric's YouTube channel and in Lyric's online press room.

Read the Blue digital program book before the performance.

Performance dates for La Bohème are March 15, 19m, 22, 25, 28, 31, April 3m, 6m, 7, and 12. All performances take place at the Lyric Opera House, 20 North Wacker Drive, Chicago.

Audio description, a guided touch tour of the set, and SoundShirts are available at the Sunday, April 6 matinee performance. Braille and large-print programs, high-powered opera glasses, assistive listening devices, and booster seats are available from the main floor coat check at all performances. For more information, visit lyricopera.org/accessibility.

La Bohème is sung in Italian, with easy-to-follow projected English titles above the stage.

The running time is 2 hours and 20 minutes, including one intermission.

For tickets and information, call 312.827.5600 or go to lyricopera.org/boheme.

Lyric’s presentation of Puccini’s La Bohème is generously made possible by a gift in memory of David L. Grumman, an Anonymous Donor, Josef & Margot Lakonishok, Lisbeth Stiffel, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, The Julius Frankel Foundation, ITW, The Beaubien Family, Gramma Fisher Foundation of Marshalltown, Iowa, Richard O. Ryan, and Lori Komisar and Morris Silverman.

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About Lyric

Lyric Opera of Chicago is committed to redefining what it means to experience great opera. The company is driven to deliver consistently excellent artistry through innovative, relevant, celebratory programming that engages and energizes new and traditional audiences.

Under the leadership of General Director, President & CEO John Mangum and Music Director Enrique Mazzola, Lyric is dedicated to reflecting, and drawing strength from, the diversity of Chicago. Lyric offers, through innovation, collaboration, and evolving learning opportunities, ever-more exciting, accessible, and thought-provoking audience and community experiences. We also stand committed to training the artists of the future, through The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center; and to becoming increasingly diverse across our audiences, staff, programming, and artists—magnifying the welcoming pull of our art form, our company, and our city.

Through the timeless power of voice, the splendor of a great orchestra and chorus, theater, dance, design, and truly magnificent stagecraft, Lyric is devoted to immersing audiences in worlds both familiar and unexpected, creating shared experiences that resonate long after the curtain comes down.

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For more information on Lyric's upcoming 2024/25 Season, visit lyricopera.org/newseason.