Episode 1: Opera Stories - Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly

Love and betrayal are timeless themes - in art and in life. Nowhere are they on more powerful display than in Madama Butterfly. With words, pictures and excerpts from Boheme Opera’s 2002 production, Artistic Director Joseph Pucciatti shares the fascinating history behind the opera, a director’s-eye view of the story and how Madama Butterfly is still shaping the performing arts today, from Broadway to the cinema.

Episode 2: Youth in Opera

Boheme Opera highlights seven young, talented singers who have been a part of the Boheme experience in various comprimario roles and the opera chorus. Enjoy performances of pieces from across the opera repertoire and representing a cross section of composers. The Intermezzo from I Pagliacci by Leoncavallo is performed by Pianist/Managing Director Sandra Milstein Pucciatti, with narration provided by Artistic Director Joseph Pucciatti.

Episode 3: Opera Stories - Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca

Explore the story of Puccini’s powerhouse opera of love and lust via Boheme Opera’s historic 1995 production. This performance spotlights the company’s early relationship with Newark, NJ’s, Opera Music Theater International, headed by legendary bass, Jerome Hines. Mr. Hines introduced Boheme Opera to its Baron Scarpia: A budding baritone named Mark Delavan, in his role debut, who would go on to achieve his own operatic fame and acclaim.

Episode 4: Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata

Few tragic heroines are more iconic than Violetta, the beautiful - and doomed - courtesan in Giuseppe Verdi's equally iconic opera La Traviata. Through highlights from Boheme Opera’s 2007 semi-staged production, Boheme Artistic Director Joseph Pucciatti shares the history of the opera - from the composer’s inspiration, Alexander Dumas’ The Lady of the Camellias, and his operatic adaptation’s less-than-stellar premier, to its eventual status as one of the world’s most beloved operas.

Episode 5: Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus

The operetta began its life as grand opera’s oft-maligned, “less sophisticated” little sibling. But the operetta has had the last musical laugh, as it has developed into an art form much beloved by composers and audiences alike. With excerpts from Boheme Opera’s 1998 production of Die Fledermaus, Artistic Director Joseph Pucciatti shares the operetta’s evolution into Broadway’s modern musical and the tales of the art’s greatest composers, including Gilbert & Sullivan, Offenbach, Lehar, Herbert and Strauss II.

Episode 6: Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot

Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot represents two moments of finality: the death of one of history’s greatest opera composers and the last of the true grand operas. Left unfinished at Puccini’s death and completed from his sketches by composer Franco Alfano, Turandot’s lavish staging and lush score make it an audience favorite and an equally challenging and towering production for all the artists involved in bringing it to life. Join Artistic Director Joseph Pucciatti and special guests for this episode of Who’s Afraid of Opera to learn about the opera’s rich history and what goes on behind the scenes to make Turandot’s fantasy a reality.