Giacomo Puccini

La Bohème is an opera in four acts, composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on “Scènes de la vie de bohème” (1851) by Henri Murger. It’s an easy opera to love, a tragic love story set in the bohemian neighborhoods of Paris around 1830. The opera follows the lives of a group of struggling artists and their pursuit of love and happiness. The world premiere of La Bohème was in Turin on 1 February 1896 at the Teatro Regio conducted by the 28-year-old Arturo Toscanini. Three of the ten most performed operas in the world today are by Puccini, equaled only by Mozart.