[Contains spoilers about the end of the show]
Saturday evening, October 18th , Pittsburgh Opera will open this season with Puccini’s La Bohème, one of the most beloved and frequently performed operas in the world . Chris Cox, Director of Marketing and Communications for Pittsburgh Opera, recently took the time to discuss the production with Erik Nordstrom who sings the role of Schaunard, and shared with us the following transcript of their conversation:
Chris Cox: Erik Nordstrom, welcome back to Pittsburgh Opera for your second season here as a Resident Artist and your second time beginning our season with Puccini at the Benedum Center.
Erik Nordstrom: Thank you. It’s good to be back.
Chris Cox: How have you grown as an artist this past year?
Erik Nordstrom: I would say first and foremost, I’ve had a huge growth spurt in vocal development, due in large part to all the stage time I’ve had with Pittsburgh Opera. Performing on stage forces you to learn in unique ways.
I’ve also gained confidence on stage, and with portraying a role as I see fit – of course, with input from the director and music staff – so I’m claiming my artistry a little bit more than I have in the past.
Chris Cox: This time last year, you were preparing for your Benedum debut as Angelotti in Tosca. What was it like singing at the Benedum for the first time?
Erik Nordstrom: It was amazing singing in the Benedum for the first time. That place is cavernous. To hear your own voice resonate throughout it is a really unique experience and fun, thrilling. The audience was into it, too. It was well received, and I had a lot of fun doing it.
Chris Cox: Having sung at the Benedum already, do you approach singing there any differently now?
Erik Nordstrom: Definitely. I even noticed a difference between singing in Tosca last fall and Madama Butterfly this past spring. I was able to relax a little more and trust that what I was doing was reading well. I didn’t feel like I had to be white knuckling it as much as I did during Tosca. I’m looking forward to continuing on that path now in La Bohème as Schaunard and really being more natural in this space.
Chris Cox: Tell us a little bit about Schaunard, and what it’s like to portray him.
Erik Nordstrom: In our production, he is the youngest of these four artist friends who are living in Paris. He sort of gets hazed as like the younger brother. He’s the musician of the group. He’s sort of jostling to earn his keep there in this group of guys.
Chris Cox: Schaunard is in more scenes in this show than Angelotti was in Tosca. Does that require any adjustment on your end, knowing that your character is going to be on stage more often than before?
Erik Nordstrom: I definitely feel a higher sense of responsibility. With Angelotti, it was very prescribed – you go on, this is your situation, you do this, and you leave. There’s a lot more time to fill on stage with Schaunard, so I have a lot more agency in terms of who I want him to be and what things interest him, what things make him frightened or surprised.
Chris Cox: What are some of those things that interest him, or frighten or surprise him?
Erik Nordstrom: We’ve conceded that he’s never been around a dying person before. We were staging the end of the opera yesterday, and Mimi comes into the garret visibly sick and on death’s door. And that is really difficult for Schaunard to see. He’s never seen that before, and it shocks him. It’s a strong impression he gets from seeing somebody in that state.
Chris Cox: What makes La Bohème such a fan favorite? Why has it lasted and remained as popular as it has for all these decades?
Erik Nordstrom: The audience can see themselves in it. It’s depicting people at a time in their lives when they didn’t have too many responsibilities. They’re in their early 20s, they’ve just gained their independence, but they’re not having a lot of weighty responsibilities yet. And they’re sort of aware in the moment that this time period in their lives is special and fleeting, and they take the most advantage of it that they can, and really enjoy it together. A lot of people can relate to that and feel a certain nostalgia for that time in their own lives.
Plus, the music is gorgeous. Puccini really loves the human voice and knows a lot about how it works. The way he writes for it allows for a lot of heightened humanity to come out through the voice itself. Even without a lot of visuals, you can tell what’s going on in the story through the way he writes the music.
Chris Cox: How are the rehearsals going?
Erik Nordstrom: They’re great. It’s my first time working with [Stage Director] Kristine McIntyre, and she is a joy to work with. She really knows what she wants and is very specific and efficient. The cast is also getting along really well. We’re having a lot of fun.
Chris Cox: After La Bohème, you will have a very prominent role in Fellow Travelers, at the Byham in November. Tell us a little bit about that.
Erik Nordstrom: I’ll be playing Hawkins Fuller in Fellow Travelers. He is a closeted gay man working for the United States State Department in the McCarthy era. He falls in love with a young reporter who has just moved to D.C., who has a very religious Catholic background, and is not aware yet of the fact that he’s gay. They have a romance, which ultimately ends in tragedy.
Chris Cox: And you’ve sung that role before, yes?
Erik Nordstrom: Yes. I sang this role in 2023 with the same costar, Logan Wagner, who will be playing Timmy here in Pittsburgh. We performed at CCM (the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music) together. It will be really fun to revisit together.
Chris Cox: Thanks, Erik, we’re looking forward to seeing you on stage!
Erik Nordstrom: Thank you, Chris.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
Pittsburgh Opera opens this season with Puccini’s La Bohème at the Benedum Center with performances on October 18, 21, 24 & 26, 2025. Tickets and more information at: https://pittsburghopera.org/season/boheme
Categories: Arts and Ideas, Feature, Preview
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