Enhance your Experience

El Paso Opera wants you to make the most of your Opera experience. Here are our suggestions to enhance your experience:

• Read the libretto –We want you to enjoy the singing and the acting on stage free from the distraction of trying to figure out the plot line. Reading the libretto will help you see what the show is about. Amazon.com has many librettos for sale, and you may even find a copy at your local library.
• Listen to a recording – Unless you are a frequent opera patron, you may not know whether a performance was “good” or “bad”. Listening to a great recording of the opera prior will help you train your opera palate. El Paso Opera strives to produce high quality shows and strive for the level of top recordings. It will also give you a feel for the musical style of the show.
  • Our choice for La Bohème is EMI Classics’ Puccini: La Boheme (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Anna Moffo, Antonino Votto, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan available from Amazon.com
• Research the history – What was the impetus that made this composer write this opera? What was going on historically around him? Even just a little insight into the historical facts of the time period an opera was written or even the time period in which it was set can make the experience that much more enriching.
  • La Bohème: The opera is based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. It describes the lives of the bohemian artists in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the 1840’s. After the French revolution, these young artists were experiencing a joy and freedom in being able to live their lives under their own terms for the first time. The book is available in English.
    
    Our Director was inspired to produce our Bohème by Murger’s book and by the 2001 movie, Moulin Rouge starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor

Contact El Paso Opera at (915) 581-5534 or by email at info@epopera.org for more suggestions