04.10.2020

SUMI HWANG as Puccini‘s Mimì at Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden

It remains one of the greatest tragic love stories of all time. A moment of love at first sight, a young girl’s frozen hand and the warmth of a stranger: Puccini adorns the first meeting between Mimì and Rodolfo with music of incomparable expression, hope and desire. The two embrace musically in a way which is never to be repeated – not even physically – for the remainder of the opera. It is a surprising moment in many ways: two very different people meet for the first time and, although their love seems doomed almost from the start, one cannot help but cling to some hope that, somehow, their love will prevail. But it is not to be, and Mimì’s eventual death brings a type of fateful transcendence to the character.

In a revival of Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson’s production which was premiered in 2004, Sumi Hwang is to give her highly expected return to Wiesbaden as Puccini’s Mimì, where she had already impressed audience and critics alike with her stunning interpretation of Bizet’s Micaëla at the beginning of the past season. “The way in which Hwang offers Micaëla’s harmonically complex prayer in the third act is simply perfect. It’s so striking that one struggles to find an equal interpretation even on high-profile recordings” (Das Opernglas | November 2019).

With the latter role, Sumi Hwang is expected to return to Wiesbaden in Spring 2021.

Cast

Sumi Hwang, Mimì
Andrei Danilov, Rodolfo
Shira Patchornik, Musetta
Christopher Bolduc, Marcello
Benjamin Russell, Schaunard
Young Doo Park, Colline
Wolfgang Vater, Benoît & Alcindoro

Christoph Stiller, conductor
Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson, original production
Jósef Halldórsson, stage designer
Filíppia Elísdóttir, costumes
Albert Horne, choir
Niklas Sikner, youth chorus
Klaus Krauspenhaar, lighting designer
Katharina John, dramaturgy

Chor des Hessischen Staatstheaters Wiesbaden
Jugendkantorei der Ev. Singakademie Wiesbaden
Hessisches Staatsorchester Wiesbaden