Virginia Opera presents Puccini’s “La Boheme”
Where: George Mason University’s Center for the Arts
When: 8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday
Info: $44 to $98; 888-945-2468; gmu.edu/cfa
Soprano Veronica Mitina returns to Virginia Opera as Puccini’s tragic heroine Mimi in his crowd-pleasing masterpiece, “La Boheme.” Last year the Russian-born artist performed her first Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” with the company that is celebrating its 35th season with Artistic Director and Conductor Peter Mark at the helm.
“I love Peter Mark and his loyalty to the company,” Mitina said. “At a time when many opera companies are going dark, Virginia Opera is thriving because of its many donors and supporters in the community. The company will always be close to my heart because I sang my first Tatiana here.
“Now I’m singing Mimi, one of my favorite roles. Because she’s a serious girl with a mousy personality, it’s easy to fall into the trap and contrast her with Musetta, who is playful and flirty, but I like to show her full of life and fun in the first act. Although Mimi is struggling, works hard and is independent, she is capable of deep feeling for someone.”
Mitina planned to become a concert pianist until a choral director encouraged her to focus on voice. After studying at Mussorgsky College and Herzen University in St. Petersburg, she participated in the school’s exchange program and completed her master’s degree at the University of Northern Iowa.
“It was a great honor and opportunity to be invited to continue my studies in the United States, but I was a little reluctant at first,” she said. “My mom, a professor of English, convinced me that it would be a cultural experience I should not turn down. When I arrived, I found myself in a very nurturing environment.”
Mitina quickly attracted attention and was invited to enter summer apprentice programs with the Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera North in New Hampshire and Sarasota Opera. She credits the coaching she received from great conductors in those programs with laying the foundation for roles she has already performed and others that await her in the future.
Her numerous honors include winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions, the Met’s Career Development Award, a MacAllister Foundation grant and the Sarasota Opera Guild’s Leo Rogers Scholarship.
During her first apprentice season in Des Moines, Iowa, she met tenor Patrick Miller, whose striking performance as Sam in the VO production of Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah” warranted a return engagement last season as Lensky in “Eugene Onegin” alongside Mitina as Tatiana. By then they were married and elated to be appearing in the same opera, a situation that usually happens only to seasoned married performers.
“We balance our two careers by talking on the phone when apart and participating in each other’s lives as much as possible,” she said. “Because we’re in the same field, we support each unconditionally.
“I’m excited to be back with VO in a role by a composer I love. Puccini’s operas are all different, yet there are similarities with his long musical lines that are very expressive, heartfelt and emotional. He’s unusual because he helps the singer by writing all the directions and characterizations in the score. I’ve researched the Bohemian lives in the Latin Quarter and love the special way Puccini gives everything you wish from a work.”
