On Monday, January 18, 2016. Frédéric Verrières’ opera Mimi conducted by Ivan Josip Skender and Darijan Ivezić and directed by Guillaume Vincent shall return to the CNT in Zagreb. The following performances are scheduled for January 19, 20 and 21, 2016.

Insight into the opening night will take place on Sunday, January 17, 2016 where a new contemporary opera piece Mimi by Frédéric Verièrres which is a free adaptation of Giacomo Puccini’ opera La Bohème will be presented by the moderator Branimir Pofuk, stage director Guillaume Vincent and conductor Ivan Josip Skender.

The soloists of opera Mimi will perform several arias selected by the conductor. The soloists are Gorana Biondić, Mia Domaćina, Maja Posavec, Vanda Winter, Đani Stipaničev and Leon Košavić.

After the revival of Puccini’s opera La Bohème in December 2015 (after the idea of stage director and set designer Arnaud Bernard), the first premiere in the new 2016 is opera Mimi by Frédéric Verrières, realised as a co-production of the Parisian theatre Bouffes du Nord and the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. The Parisian world opening night of this work was held in November 2014, while the Croatian premiere with French performers was held in January 2015. The Croatian premiere led by Croatian singers with Ivan Josip Skender and Darijan Ivezić as conductors with Guillaume Vincent as stage director will be held on January 18, 2016. The leading roles are sung by singers Leon Košavić, Maja Posavec, Mia Domaćina, Đani Stipaničev, Gordana Biondić and Vanda Winter.

„Mimi is a work that was created after opera La Bohème: it is a special metamorphosis of that music material. From January, Mimi shall be performed with Croatian singers and conductor, so the performance is entirely revived and can be considered as the Croatian premiere” says the director of the CNT Opera, Nikša Bareza.

Opera Mimi questions one of Puccini’s famous works from a discourse of contemporaneity. Mimi that is freely reinterpreted by Frédéric Verrières, projects the heroine into the 21st century, analysing all the dimensions of love in a contemporary society. This story also speaks of art and poverty, but above all, about love. Love in all forms, because every character has his/her own vision of love that belongs only to him/her, regardless whether it is an idealised emotion, jealousy, sick love or the fatal one. Mimi by Frédéric Verrières is not a transposition of Puccini’s opera La Bohème; Mimi is a work taken out of the 19th century in a desire to sound and echo today. Mimi is considered from a double perspective: from the one of Puccini with which we are well acquainted and from the current one, which might serve as our contemporary.