Damiano Michieletto's just-unwrapped, modern La bohème production for Salzburg, which opened a few days ago starring Trebs in the title role, won over the audience and critics alike -- twelve minutes of applause for the 37-year-old Venetian's "dark" interpretation, set in a mall, Mimi as a lost soul with the young bohemian posse on self-destruct mode.
Michieletto tells Corriere della Sera that he started working in opera out of boredom. His blue collar parents -- a soccer mom and a working-class dad -- never took him to the opera. A nice comeback for a festival that hasn't put into scene an Italian director in 13 years. The man of the hour, tower of power.
He laments that Italian directors aren't noted abroad. For his Bohème, he sought a balance between telling the story without boredom and banishing cliche.