Ramón Tebar leads revival of John Caird’s staging featuring two international casts in nine performances at the War Memorial Opera House

Tickets available at (415) 864-3330 and sfopera.com

Bohème Out of the Box mobile-stage production brings Puccini’s classic to four Bay Area communities April–June

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- San Francisco Opera’s 2025 Summer Season opens June 3 with one of opera’s all-time classics, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème in director John Caird’s “elegant staging” (Mercury News). Ramón Tebar conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and two brilliant casts in nine performances through June 21. John Keene, the Company’s Chorus Director, prepares the San Francisco Opera Chorus.

Based on French writer Henri Murger’s autobiographical Scènes de la vie de bohème, Puccini’s opera follows the lives and loves of a group of impoverished Parisian artists. Nearly 130 years after its world premiere in Italy, La Bohème is among the most popular and frequently performed operas in the repertoire. San Francisco Opera opened its inaugural season in 1923 with La Bohème, conducted by Company founder Gaetano Merola.

Caird’s staging, inspired by the pictorial world of Belle Époque artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, is a co-production between San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera and Canadian Opera Company and was first presented here in 2014 and revived in 2017. The presentation showcases the work of production designer David Farley, lighting designer Michael Clark and is directed in revival by Katherine M. Carter.

Samoan tenor Pene Pati brings his portrayal of the poet Rodolfo, which has touched audiences in Europe, Canada and, most recently, Chicago, to San Francisco for the first time. Heralded as “a Rodolfo to die for” by Chicago Reader, Pati returns to the stage where he began as an Adler Fellow and has since won critical and popular acclaim in operas by Verdi, Gounod and Donizetti. Tenor Evan LeRoy Johnson, whose Company debut as Lensky in Eugene Onegin “filled the cavernous War Memorial with gorgeous, well-focused, lyrical voice” (San Francisco Classical Voice), alternates as Rodolfo beginning June 13.

Taiwanese soprano Karen Chia-ling Ho, who won praise for her “powerful” (San Francisco Chronicle) appearances with the Company as Princess Jia in Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang’s Dream of the Red Chamber, makes her role debut as Mimì. Sharing the role is Australian soprano Nicole Car who made her 2022 Company debut as Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The New York Times hailed Car’s “fine-grained tone and nuanced acting” as Mimì.

Andrea Carroll makes her Company debut as Musetta, sharing the role with Brittany Renee, who was last seen on the War Memorial Opera House stage as Julie in Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’ Omar. In a return to the works of Puccini in San Francisco, Lucas Meachem portrays the painter Marcello. During the Company’s Centennial Season performances of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, San Francisco Classical Voice said: “Meachem was as strong and satisfying as ever … he sang in a voice that reflected authority, concern and alarm. And in the final act … the warmth that makes him such an endearing favorite of San Francisco audiences came to the fore.” Baritone Will Liverman, a standout at the Metropolitan Opera in recent performances of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones and Anthony Davis’ X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, shares the role beginning June 13.

Romanian bass Bogdan Talos joins the Company as Colline for all performances, and second-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow Samuel Kidd is Schaunard. San Francisco Opera Medal recipient Dale Travis performs the dual roles of the landlord Benoit in Act I and Alcindoro in Act II.

Spanish conductor Ramón Tebar, who brought “vivacious energy” (San Francisco Chronicle) to Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love (L’Elisir d’Amore) in his 2023 San Francisco Opera debut, will conduct. Tebar is the principal conductor and artistic director of Opera Naples in Florida and he has conducted La Bohème at the Vienna State Opera, Hamburg State Opera and the Aspen Music Festival.

The exuberance of La Bohème’s Parisian setting extends into the lobby areas of the Opera House with décor and entertainers providing selfie opportunities inspired by the Cafè Momus, Parpignol’s toy shoppe and other Latin Quarter scenes from the opera’s second act.

Sung in Italian with English supertitles, the nine performances of La Bohème are scheduled for June 3 (7:30 p.m.), 7 (7:30 p.m.), 10 (7:30 p.m.), 12 (7:30 p.m.), 13 (7:30 p.m.), 15 (2 p.m.), 18 (7:30 p.m.), 19 (7:30 p.m.), 21 (7:30 p.m.), 2025.

LIVESTREAM on June 10 at 7:30 p.m. Pacific

The third performance of La Bohème on Tuesday, June 10 at 7:30 p.m. Pacific, will be livestreamed. Tickets, which include a 48-hour on-demand window beginning June 16 at 10 a.m. Pacific, are $27.50. For more information, visit sfopera.com/digital/livestream.

BOHÈME OUT OF THE BOX

Returning for its third consecutive year, San Francisco Opera’s popular Bohème Out of the Box presentation of an abridged version of La Bohème staged on a converted shipping container will visit Sausalito (April 26, 27), San Ramon (May 1), Los Altos Hills (May 3, 4) and Hayward (June 28, 29). Performances take place outdoors and are free of charge. The cast will include current San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows Caroline Corrales (Mimì), Samuel White (Rodolfo), Georgiana Adams (Musetta), Samuel Kidd (Marcello) and Jongwon Han (Colline) with guest artist Philip Skinner (Benoit/Alcindoro). Adler Fellows Ji Youn Lee and Julian Grabarek will alternate performances at the piano, and Jose Maria Condemi directs. For complete venue information, directions, parking, public transit and event updates, visit sfopera.com/box.

TICKETS AND INFORMATION

Tickets for La Bohème range from $28–$438 and are available at the San Francisco Opera Box Office (301 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco), by calling (415) 864-3330 and online at sfopera.com. San Francisco Opera Box Office hours are Monday 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.–6 p.m. (Saturdays phone only). A $2 per-ticket facility fee is included in Balcony 1, 2 and 3 zone prices; all other zones include a $3 per-ticket facility fee.

Tickets for the June 10 livestream are $27.50 each. For more information, visit sfopera.com/digital/livestream.

The War Memorial Opera House is located at 301 Van Ness Avenue. Patrons are encouraged to use public transportation to attend San Francisco Opera performances. The War Memorial Opera House is within walking distance of the Civic Center BART/Muni Station and near numerous bus lines, including 5, 21, 49 and F Market Street. For further public transportation information, visit bart.gov and sfmta.com.

Gifts of all sizes help create San Francisco Opera’s programs and are appreciated. To donate visit sfopera.com/donate.

Pre-opera talks take place 55 minutes prior to every performance in the orchestra level of the Opera House. The 20-minute overview of La Bohème is presented by Robert Hartwell.

All casting, schedule and ticket prices are subject to change. For further information, visit sfopera.com.

LA BOHÈME CASTING AND CALENDAR

*San Francisco Opera Debut  ?Role Debut 

†Current Adler Fellow  ◊Adler Fellowship Graduate  +Merola Opera Program Graduate

All performances take place at the War Memorial Opera House (301 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco), unless noted.

LA BOHÈME by Giacomo Puccini

June 3 (7:30 p.m.), 7 (7:30 p.m.), 10 (7:30 p.m.), 12 (7:30 p.m.), 13 (7:30 p.m.), 15 (2 p.m.), 18 (7:30 p.m.), 19 (7:30 p.m.), 21 (7:30 p.m.), 2025

Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica

Co-production of San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera and Canadian Opera Company

Approximate running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes including one intermission

Sung in Italian with English supertitles

Click Here for more information.