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Sept. 21, 2007/For immediate release Media Contact: Marla Carpenter, 336-770-3337, carpem@ncarts.edu SEE THE LA BOHEME SIMULCAST LIVE FROM THE KENNEDY CENTER AT THE STEVENS CENTER ON SUNDAY AT 2 P.M. *Washington National Opera hopes to find new audiences for opera in America*
WINSTON-SALEM – Always wanted to go to The Kennedy Center to see a show? You have your chance on Sunday! The North Carolina School of the Arts is one of 32 schools across the country locally presenting a free, live broadcast of Puccini’s *La Bohème* from the Opera House stage at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. This innovative new production, from Polish director Mariusz Treliński, is winning raves in D.C. The Washington Times said WNO's La Bohème encapsulates "the essential timelessness of the composer's vision while retaining the beauty of its expression. This is not your father's La Bohème. But it works." The Washington Post said: "Conductor Emmanuel Villaume shapes the work with love, lyricism, and an unfailing sense of proportion. The casting is strong, and better than that when Vittorio Grigolo is onstage, singing the role of Rodolfo in a fresh, sweet, sensitive tenor voice that is nevertheless capable of clarion power." The simulcast will be presented at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 23, at the Stevens Center in downtown Winston-Salem. Admission is free but tickets are required. Call 336-721-1945 for reservations. Tickets will also be available at the box office an hour before show time. Pre-recorded entertainment will begin via satellite at 1:30 p.m. for patrons as they enter the theatre to take their seats. The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. The running time is approximately two hours and 10 minutes including one 20-minute intermission. This event is anticipated to be the largest-ever simultaneous viewing of an opera in the world, with more than 45,000 expected viewers. The simulcast will also be seen at the Washington Monument on the National Mall in D.C. The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts at the North Carolina School of the Arts is spearheading the School's participation. Composed by Giacomo Puccini, with a libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, Trelinski’s La Bohème, from Teatr Wielki National Opera Warsaw, is a fitting modern-day take on the timeless opera. Set in the present day, Rodolfo is a photographer and part of a contemporary group of artists searching for their identity and longing for a deeper and more profound connection with society. The opera is a human drama of loss and love, as the characters struggle with their careers and to truly connect with each other in a world that is increasingly connected technologically. As such, the opera’s theme will resonate with younger audiences. A special talk-back with students from the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute at NCSA will follow the simulcast, free and open to the public. NCSA School of Music faculty member Steven LaCosse will facilitate the discussion, which will feature singers Nichole Annis and Stephanie Davis. To learn more about La Bohème, check out the link on the front of the NCSA website, www.ncarts.edu, to a lecture that NCSA Chancellor John Mauceri gave to the Pittsburgh Opera Guild at the Carnegie Mellon Library in 2003. ###
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WINSTON-SALEM – Always wanted to go to The Kennedy Center to see a show? You have your chance on Sunday!

The North Carolina School of the Arts is one of 32 schools across the country locally presenting a free, live broadcast of Puccini’s La Bohème from the Opera House stage at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. This innovative new production, from Polish director Mariusz Treliński, is winning raves in D.C.

The Washington Times said WNO's La Bohème encapsulates "the essential timelessness of the composer's vision while retaining the beauty of its expression. This is not your father's La Bohème. But it works."

The Washington Post said: "Conductor Emmanuel Villaume shapes the work with love, lyricism, and an unfailing sense of proportion. The casting is strong, and better than that when Vittorio Grigolo is onstage, singing the role of Rodolfo in a fresh, sweet, sensitive tenor voice that is nevertheless capable of clarion power."

The simulcast will be presented at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 23, at the Stevens Center in downtown Winston-Salem. Admission is free but tickets are required. Call 336-721-1945 for reservations. Tickets will also be available at the box office an hour before show time.

Pre-recorded entertainment will begin via satellite at 1:30 p.m. for patrons as they enter the theatre to take their seats.

The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. The running time is approximately two hours and 10 minutes including one 20-minute intermission.

This event is anticipated to be the largest-ever simultaneous viewing of an opera in the world, with more than 45,000 expected viewers. The simulcast will also be seen at the Washington Monument on the National Mall in D.C.

The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts at the North Carolina School of the Arts is spearheading the School's participation.

Composed by Giacomo Puccini, with a libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, Trelinski’s La Bohème, from Teatr Wielki National Opera Warsaw, is a fitting modern-day take on the timeless opera. Set in the present day, Rodolfo is a photographer and part of a contemporary group of artists searching for their identity and longing for a deeper and more profound connection with society. The opera is a human drama of loss and love, as the characters struggle with their careers and to truly connect with each other in a world that is increasingly connected technologically. As such, the opera’s theme will resonate with younger audiences.

A special talk-back with students from the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute at NCSA will follow the simulcast, free and open to the public. NCSA School of Music faculty member Steven LaCosse will facilitate the discussion, which will feature singers Nichole Annis and Stephanie Davis.

To learn more about La Bohème, check out the link on the front of the NCSA website, www.ncarts.edu, to a lecture that NCSA Chancellor John Mauceri gave to the Pittsburgh Opera Guild at the Carnegie Mellon Library in 2003.

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