Grand opera – up close and personal!
It is a cold winter in Paris in the 1830s when the penniless group of artists—Rodolfo, Schaunard, Marcello, and Colline—meet their neighbor, Mimi. Filled with passion, they plunge into love, art, and the art of living, defying fate with seemingly endless vitality—until death and the awareness of life’s finitude cast their first shadows over their youth.
Image gallery
Poster La Bohème von Puccini von Adolfo Hohenstein
Mathieu van Bellen and Mathias Halvorsen present Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Bohème in a specially arranged version for violin and piano. From a grand opera for soloists, choir, and orchestra emerges a work for two performers.
The story comes to life through projected texts that include not only subtitles but also scene descriptions and excerpts from Henri Murger’s novel Scènes de la vie de Bohème.Mathieu van Bellen and Mathias Halvorsen focus both on the melodic and harmonic richness of Puccini’s music and, at the same time, open up space for individual imagination — a music theatre experience for the senses.
“Through a musicality that at times takes your breath away, the duo’s new arrangement achieves an astonishing (and deeply moving) fullness and richness. One never feels a lack of narrative weight or emotional engagement. Indeed [...] violin and piano ‘sing’ so lyrically that Rodolfo, Musetta, and Mimi seem to appear right before your eyes.” (The Sunday Times)
Short introduction:
6:30 pm with program coordinator Maximilian Hagemeyer
- Mathieu van Bellen, violin
- Mathias Halvorsen, piano
Friday, December 5, 2025, 7 PM
Schwartzsche Villa
Grunewaldstraße 55, 12165 Berlin-Steglitz
Admission: €10, tickets available online and at the box office
Reservations by email: kultur@ba-sz.berlin.de
Dates
December 2025
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