"La jeunesse n'a qu'un temps" (youth comes only once) wrote the poet Henri Murger in 1862. Thirty-four years later, Giacomo Puccini was inspired by Murger's Scènes de la vie de bohème to compose his opera La bohème. The wintry story of the four young bon vivants and their sweethearts, their love and suffering, would from then on serve as a model for the romantic image we have of the bohemian. The universal, timeless and enchanting character of this opera has rarely been portrayed more aptly than by director Robert Carsen. One of our showpiece productions, La bohème returns – after a triumphant worldwide tour – to Antwerp and Ghent once again.