Nicola Luisotti, San Francisco Opera's music director and a master of the Italian repertoire, conducts Puccini's most beloved opera. This heartwarming story of starving artists falling in and out of love in 19th-century Paris is a seamless mix of romantic passion, poignant tragedy and high spirited fun. The outstanding cast is headed by superstar Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu as the ill-fated Mimì and by Polish tenor Piotr Beczala as her lover, the poet Rodolfo. Recorded Fall 2008, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco.