Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème of 1896, with a libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, is one of the most frequently performed operas in the world today. Originally set in 1830s Paris, it focuses on six young adults and the love that four of them find with each other amidst the most impoverished of circumstances. One couple (Marcello and Musetta) have a stormy relationship but their frequent battles prove that their love actually has staying power. Rodolfo and Mimì,...

'Mi raccomando brevità, e fuoco,' is how Verdi illustrated his blueprint for Ernani to his librettist Piave. He can't have been disappointed by the final product. Verdi's fifth opera brims with rollicking tunes, stirring arias and incendiary ensemble numbers -- it is an uninterrupted flow of musical invention. Such has not secured Ernani regular appearances at La Scala. The opera had last appeared at the Milan house 32 years ago, in a production from Luca Ronconi...