Although the year is coming to an end, the Regina Opera Company kicked off its 56th season, from November 2025 to May 2026, with a stellar performance of Giacomo Puccini’s legendary 1896 opera, La Bohème, on Saturday, November 15th.
Residents and opera lovers gathered at the auditorium of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Academy, at 5902 6th Avenue, to see the premiere of the Italian opera, where the Regina Opera’s cast of actors gave it their all and performed a story of love, laughter and loss.
“We thought the audience would enjoy it,” Francine Garber-Cohen, president of the Regina Opera, said. “We hadn’t done this show in a while, and there were so many singers who would be fitting for this opera — in other words, they had the voice exactly for La Bohème.”
Directed by Sabrina Palladino and Scott Jackson Wiley as the principal conductor, with English supertitles provided by Linda Cantoni, La Bohème follows the story of bohemians living in 19th-century Paris, where starving poet Rodolfo (Jax Hassler) meets and falls in love with Mimì (Rachel Hippert).
Although the opera is filled with comedic moments, such as avoiding paying the rent and an expensive dinner bill, it becomes a tragedy with the loss of a loved one.
“It’s the kind of opera that the more you sing it, the more it unfolds for you as a performer because you’re always looking at what’s the next nuance,” said Palladino, who also starred as Mimì years prior. “Mimì has a very central role and a very central role in the fact that she dies and the rest live. I think the ultimate lesson is that all of these boys, and even Musetta, have to grow up.”
If you missed La Bohème, the Regina Opera will be performing other shows, including Suor Angelica alongside concert performances in February and March 2026 and Carmen in May 2026.
For more information on the Regina Opera Company, visit reginaopera.org or call (718) 259-2772.
