We attend La Bohème tonight. I know that some opera lovers are tired of this work, but I’m not, and of all the operas I’ve played, this is the one I’ve played the most. I’ve done three versions; I’ve played the reduced orchestra version that I’ve been told Puccini authorized (I don’t believe he did it, though), the Nicholas Kitsopoulos version (which, thankfully, keeps the English horn part which the other nixes), and the complete orchestration. Of course I prefer the full orchestration, but I thought Kitsopoulos did a good job, and I appreciate it when an orchestrator knows that the English horn timbre can’t be replaced!

We don’t hear the “big names” tonight, but I’m okay with that. Maybe we’ll hear a future big name in any case.

After this opera the San Francisco Ballet takes over the opera house for a while. We return in June for three final operas, Tosca, Porgy & Bess (yes, it is an opera … imo, of course), and La Traviata. Definitely operas that some folks out there deem beneath them because of their popularity. I was never popular. Maybe that’s why I like these? Kind of living vicariously or some such thing. 😉