The Bohemian Life.

Several years ago, when I was but a sophomore in college, studying piano performance, I was introduced to my first opera. A good (and handsome!) friend of mine who was a vocal performance major, had lent me La Boheme by Puccini. Up until that point, I had very little knowledge of opera, and could not have told you the names of any operas except for maybe the one that Looney Toons based their famous "Kill the Rabbit!" cartoon off of...I had grown up listening to Broadway musicals, and was a huge fan. But, I decided to give opera a try, if not to expand my musical horizons, then because I had a crush on the guy that had given it to me-and so I listened to it. And listened to it again, and again and again. And decided, that, perhaps opera wasn't so bad after all. Every time I heard Rodolfo (male lead) sing "Mimi!" with such agony at the end of the opera, I got shivers down my spine. And to this day, Che gelida manina (the aria Rodolfo sings when he first meets Mimi), is my absolute favorite operatic aria.
In fact, it was Che gelida manina that was sung at my wedding-by my new husband. It was a bit beyond him then, but he knew it was my favorite, and so he did the whole thing! I have yet to see Bray perform the role onstage, but I cannot wait for the day that he gets the opportunity to!