The Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra will present “La Bohème” this weekend

PORT ANGELES — The music, the story, the emotion: Together, they make “La Bohème” a glorious experience, say the actors who will bring the opera to life this weekend.

“You experience happiness and sorrow, laughter and sadness, compassion and anger. In two and a half hours you go through the whole palette of the human condition,” said Brazilian-born baritone Igor Vieira of Giacomo Puccini's masterpiece.

In “La Bohème”, he will sing the role of Marcello, a painter living in Paris.

Vieira, accompanied by a full cast of singers and the 55 musicians of the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra, will perform the opera in concert at 2 p.m. Sunday at Field Arts & Events Hall, 201 W. Front St., during the first performance of the symphony at the venue's Donna M. Morris Theater.

The concert is almost sold out. But some tickets are still available at portangelesssymphony.org or by calling the symphony office at 360-457-5579. There may also be box office returns or cancellations on the day of the concert.

Given the popularity of the event, the final dress rehearsal will be open to the public on Friday at 6:30 p.m., with general admission at $20. These tickets are available on the symphony's website and at the door.

This is the long-held dream of Jonathan Pasternack, symphony conductor and artistic director. He worked last year on casting “La Bohème” and now has singers from New York, Detroit and Seattle, with Seattle Opera's David McDade as vocal coach and rehearsal pianist.

For the Port Angeles Symphony, the event is historic, Pasternack said.

“La Bohème” takes place in 19th-century Paris, where a poet, Rodolfo, and a poor seamstress, Mimí, fall in love one night. The story is also about their fellow artists living the bohemian life in the city's Latin Quarter.

Puccini completed it in 1895; 101 years later, it inspired the rock musical “Rent,” which became a Broadway hit.

Mark Davies, who sings the role of musician Schaunard, said “Bohème” had a timeless essence of its own.

“A lot of operas are seen as a kind of escapism, focusing on royalty, historical figures or storybook characters, but Bohème is for ordinary people,” he said .

“These are the types of friends and lovers that many of us cherish in our own lives,” so that we can find ourselves in the story.

“La Bohème” will be sung in the original Italian version with English surtitles projected above the stage.

Kristin K. Vogel, the nationally known soprano who has performed numerous times with the Port Angeles Symphony, will sing the role of Mimí, while Errin Duane Brooks, who appeared in “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” and “Porgy and Bess,” among other Metropolitan Opera productions, will sing the role of Rodolfo.

It's one of the most difficult roles to play in all of opera, Pasternack said. He heard Brooks perform with Vogel in “Madama Butterfly” at the Utah Festival Opera and, extremely impressed, contacted the tenor to see if he would be available this month.

Brooks, who grew up singing and playing drums in a Detroit Baptist church, remembers hearing church members with unusual voices. Their sound stayed in his heart. In high school, Brooks played football and threw shot put, but his grades suffered. His mother and guidance counselor placed him in choir, which he was not happy about.

“However, it was one of the best things my mother ever did for me, because I was introduced to the world of classical music,” Brooks recalled.

“I finally understood these wonderfully foreign voices that I heard in my church growing up,” he added, “and my life was never the same again.” »

As for Vogel, the role of Mimí is “incredibly moving,” she said, and “I’m the kind of actor who still feels that.”

“It’s a hard life being an artist,” Vogel admitted.

“That keeps reminding me. When I see and hear live music, I get so moved.

Vogel looks forward to performing with singer friends old and new: Brooks, Vieira and Davies, Vashon Opera soprano Jennifer Krikawa as Musetta, Craig Grayson as Benoit/Alcindoro and Alexander Adams as Hill.

“The wonderful thing about Port Angeles is that you get the full orchestral experience,” Vogel added.

“A lot of the smaller opera companies in the area just don't have the resources to put together a full orchestra,” but in Port Angeles, Vogel senses community support for the symphony, which is wrapping up its 91st season with the performance of “La Bohème.”

Brooks, for his part, praised Puccini's work, with its 129 years of performances around the world.

“From the South Pacific to Harlem, you can place opera just about anywhere and it will connect with the audience. [The music] is lush, tender and rich in drama, which is the best thing about opera,” he said.

“There are melodies that you remember. You walk away humming parts of the opera, and those are the most important parts.

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Diane Urbani de la Paz is a freelance writer and photographer who lives in Port Townsend.