Opera Insights: La Bohème

Tuesday,  february 18, 2025 at 7:00pm MT

Featuring Madeleine Snow AB'20

In conjunction with the RMHUC's upcoming outing to see La Bohème performed by Opera Colorado, please join us for a virtual presentation and discussion with Harvard alum and opera professional Madeleine Snow AB'20, currently with Arizona Opera. Madeleine will provide an overview of the basics of opera and delve into the story, staging, and performance history of La Bohème. 

This presentation will take place via Zoom on February 18, 2025 at 7 P.M. MT 

To view an edited version of the Zoom presentation, please navigate to: Opera Insights with Madeleine Snow

Please also RSVP below.

This event is free and open to all alumni and their guests, whether or not they plan on attending Opera Colorado's performance of La Bohème on February 27, 2025. For more information on that event, please visit RMHUC at the Opera: February 27, 2025.

The presentation may be recorded in order to make it available to those who are unable to attend live. 

Madeleine Snow AB'20

Madeleine Snow is an adventurous stage director, creative collaborator, and arts educator.

A 2024-2025 Studio Artist in the Marion Roose Pullin Arizona Opera Studio, Madeleine is assistant directing productions of La bohème and Aida, directing immersive, outdoor performances of Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, and staging songs and scenes for the Studio Cabaret and Opera Gala at Arizona Opera this season. Passionate about reimagining ways for contemporary audiences to engage with classical music, she directed Cavalli’s La Calisto with Eastman Opera Theatre and won second place of the American Prize in Directing for her innovative interpretation.

A founder of Rochester Summer Opera, she directed the company’s inaugural production of Die Fledermaus at the Memorial Art Gallery and conceptualized its production of The Pirates of Penzance at a historic bathhouse on Ontario Beach.

Madeleine has enjoyed collaborating with composers including Ricky Ian Gordon and Ben Moore, and she directed the world premiere of Joshua Hershfield’s critically acclaimed rock musical Rise. Madeleine has worked as a director at PAC NYC, Palm Beach Opera, Central City Opera, Boulder Opera, Loveland Opera Theatre, Rochester Philharmonic, Boston Youth Symphony, and Harvard College Opera.
 

She holds an A.B. in Psychology and Theater, Dance & Media from Harvard University and an M.M. in Opera Stage Directing from the Eastman School of Music, where she instructed courses on acting for opera singers and served as a dramatic coach on the faculty. She completed additional training in theatrical directing through the Kennedy Center. www.madeleinesnow.com

Suggested Opera Resources

• Voice types in opera (with embedded video examples)
• Timeline of opera history
• Glossary of opera terms

About La Bohème 

Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa

based on Scènes de la vie de Bohème by Henri Murger

Premiered February 1,1896, Teatro Regio, Turin, Italy

In an attic in the Parisian Latin Quarter, the garret is cramped, but the personalities are expansive. A group of artists live the bohemian lifestyle full of complicated relationships and nights at the café on a starving artist’s budget. Through the tumultuous relationships between Mimì and Rodolfo, and Marcello and Musetta, Puccini’s best-known opera encourages you to fully appreciate the fragility of life and love.

The story is told with music that is lyrical, beautiful, and emotionally touching.

The Ellie Caulkins Opera House at Denver Performing Arts Complex
Performed in Italian, with English and Spanish subtitles at every seat.

Please RSVP below, and we will send you the link to this Zoom presentation.