The Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts announced a free summer presentation of opera on the big screen: Puccini’s La Bohème, performed by the San Francisco Opera.

The Mondavi Center is presenting the opera on Thursday, July 12, in partnership with Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum, with individual support from the Mondavi Center’s longtime benefactor Barbara K. Jackson.

The event is titled La Bohème al Fresco, with "al fresco" referring to the outdoor setting: Crocker Park, across the street from the museum.

The San Francisco Opera made the digital recording (in high definition) in the fall of 2008, at the War Memorial Opera House, for the company's Grand Opera Cinema Series.

Nicola Luisotti, the San Francisco Opera's music director and a master of the Italian repertoire, conducted this production of 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 SF Opera website states.

Leading the cast are superstar Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu as the ill-fated Mimì and Polish tenor Piotr Beczala as her lover, the poet Rodolfo.

The opera is sung in Italian, and the cinema version includes subtitles in English.

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Puccini's La Bohème on the big screen (the opera is sung in Italian, with English subtitles for this cinematic presentation)

WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday, July 12

WHERE: Crocker Park, 211 O St., on the block bounded by Second and Third streets, and N and O streets, Sacramento, across the street from the Crocker Art Museum, 216 O St.

ADMISSION: Free

IF YOU GO: Bring blankets and chairs!

Get there early to take in the museum’s Art Mix, part of the museum’s Thursdays ’til 9 series. The July 12 theme is Red Hot and Bohemian Mix. Museum admission will be charged.

The running time is a little longer than two hours, with one intermission (which includes behind-the-scenes interviews).

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