FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas will bring a live video simulcast performance of La Boheme, by the Washington National Opera, to audiences in Northwest Arkansas at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 23. Admission is free. The opera will be performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and broadcast live to audiences at more than 32 different locations around the country. In Fayetteville, the simulcasts will be shown at the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the Fine Arts Center on the university campus, and at the Center for Continuing Education auditorium on the Fayetteville Square. Doors will open at noon at both locations. No tickets are required, and there is no reserved seating.

L-R Hyung Yun (Marcello), Nicole Cabell (Musetta), Vittorio Grigolo (Rodolfo), and Adriana Damato (Mimì)
Café Momus

Washington National Opera pioneered simulcast broadcasts in the capital in 2005 and 2006. This will be its first effort to take the broadcast nationwide.

The opera production is a modern-day take on Puccini’s opera, with a contemporary urban setting and “updated” characters. The character of Rodolfo, for example, is a photographer, part of a contemporary group of artists, and the characters live in a photography studio, a spacious glass loft. Puccini’s music remains timeless, however, as do the characters’ search for identity and their longing for a deeper and more profound connection with society. Washington National Opera Director Placido Domingo described the opera as a human drama of loss and love, where the characters struggle with their careers while trying to truly connect with each other in a world that is increasingly connected technologically.

The simulcast performances of La Boheme are sponsored by the University of Arkansas department of music in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, with technical support provided by the media services department of the School of Continuing Education and Academic Outreach.