Set in current-day New York, this filmed opera reimagines La bohème by glorifying rooftops, mattresses, and the grungy, sexy, dirty world of being in your early twenties in the city that never sleeps.
CREATIVE
Laine Rettmer is a visual artist and opera director. Their work explores performance, gender, desire and methods of social control and has been presented nationally and internationally at the Vizcaya Museum, Manifesta, MoMA Public, the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Museum, the Illuminus Festival, the Boston Independent Film Festival, the Yuan Art Museum, Yve Yang Gallery, Perkins and Ping, Present Company, NADA NY, NADA Presents and AREA gallery, among others. Rettmer’s opera productions have been praised as “wickedly smart” and “devastatingly funny” by The New York Times and “not only profound but also shattering” by the Observer. Their Barber of Seville was named one of the top 10 classical music productions of 2014 by The New York Times and La Bohème one of the best operas of the decade by the Observer. Rettmer currently serves on the Artistic Advisory Board of On-Site Opera.
Sean Kelly
Sean Kelly (music director) Utilizing a flair for creative and compelling programming and a collaborative, communicative spirit, Sean has assisted various organizations in expanding their diversity, audience, funding, and artistic contributions. Conductor, pianist, and passionate music educator with over 20 years of experience in the music industry. Sean has enjoyed an international career as a vocal coach, repetiteur and conductor, working for The Metropolitan Opera, Opera Omaha, The Atlanta Opera, Fort Worth Opera, to name a few.
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Director of Photography Alice Millar
Costumes by Teresa Logan
Lighting Designer Rome Petersson
Editor and VFX Coordinator Andrea Merxk
Post Production sound Mike Flannery
Aerial Cinematography Georgi Tushev
Associate director and animator Nouzhou Wang
Associate director and dramaturg Bruno Baker
MTM Creative Director Julia Noulin-Mérat
CAST
Bizhou Chang
Soprano Bizhou Chang is thrilled to return to Opera Columbus for her role debut as Violetta in La Traviata. This season, Ms. Chang made her role debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Pensacola Opera and performed Maria in the world premiere of Ellis by Gabriele Vanoni with Guerilla Opera. During the COVID-19 impacted 2020-2021 season, soprano Bizhou Chang made her feature film debut as Mimì in an innovative film version of La bohème directed by Laine Rettmer with More than Musical (Hong Kong), a co-production of Opera Omaha, Tri Cities Opera, and Opera Columbus, performed Mimì in a new production of La bohème with Opera Columbus, and returned to Pensacola Opera to sing Micaëla in Carmen.
Previous seasons have included performances of Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Pensacola Opera, Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly with Janiec Opera Company at Brevard Music Center, Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with Miami Music Festival, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Magda Sorel in Menotti’s The Consul, Madame Lidoine in Dialogues des Carmélites, and the title role in Alcina with Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Ms. Chang is a finalist of the prestigious Teatro alla Scala Academy of Lyric Opera Competition and a finalist of the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition.
Yi Yang
Bass Yi Yang is a Professional Study Program candidate at Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Maitland Peters. Previous credits include Le nozze di Figaro (Bartolo) with Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Showa University of Music, Così fan tutte (Don Alfonso) with the Deagu Opera House, La Bohème (Benoit & Alcindoro) with Lanzhou Symphony Orchestra, Aida (The King of Egypt) with Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, I due Timidi (Narrator) and Emmeline (Henry Mosher)with Manhattan School of Music.
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Drag Queen, Jasmine Rice LaBeija
Entourage, Nate White
Drag Queen, Bruno Baker
MORE THAN MUSICAL PRESENTS a film by LAINE RETTMER “LA BOHEME”
in association with Opera Columbus, Opera Omaha, and Tri-Cities Opera
With Ziwen Xiang, Bizhou Chang, Luis Orozco, Larisa Martinez,
Markel Reed, Hidenori Inoue, and Anthony Roth Costanzo.
Music by Puccini, Libretto by Illica & Giacosa
Written by Laine Rettmer
Director of Photography Alice Millar
Costumes by Teresa Logan
Lighting Designer Rome Petersson
Editor and VFX Coordinator Andrea Merxk
Post Production sound Mike Flannery
Aerial Cinematography Georgi Tushev
Associate director and animator Nouzhou Wang
Associate director and dramaturg Bruno Baker
Music Director Sean Kelly
Directed by Laine Rettmer
MTM Creative Director Julia Noulin-Mérat
