La Bohème Tickets

La Bohème at the Vienna State Opera

Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème begins on Christmas Eve in a freezing Paris garret, where four young artists burn a manuscript to keep warm. A neighbour knocks to ask for a light: Mimì, an embroiderer with a cough. Within minutes she and the poet Rodolfo are in love, and the act ends with three of the best-loved numbers in opera — “Che gelida manina”, “Sì, mi chiamano Mimì” and “O soave fanciulla”. Then comes the Café Momus, where Musetta sings her waltz to win back the painter Marcello; a cold February morning at a customs gate on the edge of the city, where Rodolfo admits that Mimì is dying; and the garret again, months later, where the friends gather round her. Puccini built it from Henri Murger’s stories of bohemian Paris, and it opened at the Teatro Regio in Turin in February 1896.

The Vienna State Opera plays it in Franco Zeffirelli’s production, in the repertoire for more than sixty years. Its premiere, set for 3 November 1963, was called off seven minutes after curtain time when the house staff went on strike over an Italian prompter whom Herbert von Karajan had approved; it finally opened on 9 November 1963 under Karajan, with Mirella Freni as Mimì and Gianni Raimondi as Rodolfo. Zeffirelli directed and designed the sets, with costumes by Marcel Escoffier, and his atmospheric, detailed pictures — the crowds of the Latin Quarter in Act 2, the winter light of Act 3 — are still the production’s signature. Four scenes in two halves with one interval, sung in Italian; Domingo Hindoyan conducts the December 2026 performances.

• ComposerGiacomo Puccini, 1896
• Sung inItalian, seat-screen subtitles
• Running timeAbout 2 h 25 min, one interval
• ProductionFranco Zeffirelli, 1963
• ConductorDomingo Hindoyan
• Dates6, 8 and 13 December 2026

Who’s Singing in December

One cast sings all three December performances.

• 6, 8 and 13 December 2026Rachel Willis-Sørensen (Mimì), Kang Wang (Rodolfo), Maria Nazarova (Musetta), Leonardo Neiva (Marcello), Jusung Gabriel Park (Schaunard), Matheus França (Colline) and Hans Peter Kammerer (Benoît and Alcindoro); Domingo Hindoyan conducts.

Casts and conductors as announced by the Vienna State Opera on 4 November 2026. The house can change them at short notice; the names on the day are the ones that count.

Seating Categories & Ticket Prices

At the Vienna State Opera you book by price category rather than a numbered seat: Category 1 is the front of the Parkett and the central boxes, the numbers rise as the seats move back and up, and we reserve the best available places within the category you choose. Three Advent performances of a repertoire classic, priced at the top of the house’s standard range. Tickets for La Bohème are listed with us from €280 to €398 by category across the run; the bands below show what each typically costs.

Prices as listed with us on 4 November 2026; each date shows its own categories and current prices. All prices include our service fee and may be above the original face value printed on the ticket. Categories 7 to 9 are restricted-view places, offered only when the house releases them. Standing room is sold by the house on the day and never through an agency.

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