The 2025-2026 season of Saturday morning broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera in New York begins on the 6^th of December, 2025, with Puccini's La Bohème , one of the most beloved and frequently performed operas in the world. The production features the Armenian soprano Juliana Grigoryan and the American tenor Stephen Costello in the roles of the young Parisian lovers - the seamstress Mimi and the poet Rodolfo. The cast includes the Armenian soprano Mané Galoyan as the beautiful Musetta, the Serbian baritone David Bizic as Marcello, the Romanian bass Alexander Köpeczi and the Ukrainian baritone Iurii Samoilov as their bohemian friends Colline and Schaunard, respectively. The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Chorus are conducted by the company's new principal guest conductor, Daniele Rustioni. The live broadcast begins at 8.p.m. The music critic Costin Popa is our guest with whom I will be talking about this production. In addition, we have prepared an interview with the bass singer Alexander Köpeczi and a discussion with the musicologist Gabriella Biagi Ravenni from the Puccini Study Center which will take place in the two of the breaks between the broadcast.

Franco Zeffirelli's iconic production returns to the Met stage on this occasion - that picture perfect image of the 19^th century bohemian Paris, with those grandiose sets, meticulously tailored costumes and the painterly atmosphere that serves as the ideal backdrop for Puccini's pieces. Zeffirelli remains a choice that, in contrast to modern directorial approaches, offers a balance between nostalgia and a theatricality that the general public loves and in which most opera singers feel comfortable.

La Bohème is structured in four acts, composed by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Henri Murger's collection of texts Scenes de la vie de boheme. The world premiere took place at the Teatro Regio in Turin on the 1^st of February, 1896, under the baton of the young Arturo Toscanini, The opera entered quickly in the international repertoire and became one of the most frequently performed in the history of the genre. The story follows the adventures and love stories of young people in Paris in the 1830s: Rodolfo (poet), Marcello (painter), Colline (philosophy student) and Schaunard (musician), who are joined by Mimì, a fragile and sincere seamstress and Musetta, the vivacious woman who lights up the stage wherever she appears. Puccini's music transforms simple moments - a lamp going out, a flower, an embrace in the rain - into true emotional centers of the story.

La Bohème premiered at the Met while the company was on tour in Los Angeles in 1900. Nellie Melba played Mimì and, surprisingly, added the mad scene from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor as an encore afrter the final curtain ( a practice she maintained in the other performances). This production lasted until 1952, when it was replaced by one designed by Rolf Gerard and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who insisted for his name to be removed after a disagreement with some of the singers. In 1977, La Bohème was the first opera broadcast on television as part of the Live from the Met series, with Luciano Pavarotti and Renata Scotto in the lead roles, in a new production directed by Fabrizio Melano. Franco Zeffirelli's spectacular current production premiered on the 14^th of December, 1981, with James Levine leading an impressive cast that included Teresa Stratas, Scotto (as Musetta), Jose Carreras, Richard Stilwell and James Morris. La Boheme was performed at the Met for 59 consecutive seasons after its premiere and has been staged in all but nine seasons since 1900, making it the most frequently performed opera in the company's history. Having been performed over 500 times since its premiere, Zeffirelli's staging is also the most performed production in the history of the New York Met.

During the current 2025-206 season of live broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, you will be able to listen to the following performances:

December 6th, 2025 - Giacomo Puccini - La Boheme featuring: Juliana Grigoryan (Mimi), Stephen Costello (Rodolfo), David Bizic (Marcello), Mané Galoyan (Musetta), Iurii Samoilov (Schaunard), Alexander Köpeczi (Colline), Donald Maxwell (Benoit/Alcindoro), New York Metropolitan Opera Choir and Orchestra, conductor Daniele Rustioni.

January 10th, 2026 - Vincenzo Bellini - I Puritani featuring: Lawrence Brownlee (Lord Arturo Talbot), Lisette Oropesa (Elvira Walton), Eve Gigliotti (Enrichetta), David Pittsinger (Gualtiero Walton), Artur Rucinski (Riccardo Forth), Tony Stevenson (Sir Bruno Robertson), Christian Van Horn (Giorgio Walton), New York Metropolitan Opera Choir and Orchestra, conductor Marco Armiliato.

January 17th, 2026 - Georges Bizet - Carmen featuring : Aigul Akhmetshina (Carmen), Michael Fabiano (Don Jose), Christian Van Horn (Escamillo), Janai Brugger (Micaela), Richard Bernstein (Zuniga), Briana Hunter (Mercedes), Susanne Burgess (Frasquita), Aaron Blake (Le Remendado), Eleomar Cuello (Le Dancaire), Yeongtaek Yang (Morales), New York Metropolitan Opera Choir and Orchestra, conductor Pier Giorgio Morandi.

January 24th, 2026 - George Gershwin - Porgy and Bess featuring: Alfred Walker (Porgy), Brittany Renee (Bess), Ryan Speedo Green (Crown), Frederick Ballentine (Sportin' Life), Chauncey Packer (Robbins/Crab Man), Leah Hawkins (Serena), Benjamin Taylor (Jake), Vuvu Mpofu (Clara), Denyce Graves (Maria), Errin Duane Brooks (Mingo), Adrienne Danrich (Lilly), Norman Shankle (Peter), Kevin Short (Frazier), New York Metropolitan Opera Choir and Orchestra, conductor Kwamé Ryan.

March 14th, 2026 - Giacomo Puccini - Madame Butterfly featuring: Sonya Yoncheva, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Adam Smith, Quinn Kelsey, the New York Metropolitan Opera Choir and Orchestra, conductor Carlo Rizzi.

March 21st, 2025 - Richard Wagner - Tristan and Isolde featuring: Lise Davidsen, Michael Spyres, Ekaterina Gubanova, Tomasz Konieczny, Ryan Speedo Green, the Metropolitan Opera Choir and Orchestra, conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin.

May 2nd, 2026 - Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky - Evgheni Oneghin featuring: Asmik Grigorian, Igor Golovatenko, Maria Barakova, Stephanie Blythe, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Alexander Tsymbalyuk, New York Metropolitan Opera Choir and Orchestra, conductor Timur Zangiev.

May 23rd, 2026 - Giacomo Puccini - Turandot featuring :Anna Pirozzi, Angerl Blue, Brian Jagde, John Relyea, New York Metropolitan Opera Choir and Orchestra, conductor Oksana Lyniv.