Set in the modern day, this production of Puccini’s well-loved opera should entrance both new and old audiences.

The squalor of the four bohemian friends’ apartment is well conveyed through Michael Vale’s set design, making use of the revolving stage to show both the graffiti-covered corridor outside and the messy sink and exploding electrics inside.

The friendship between the four lads, romantic Rodolfo (Atalla Ayan), Marcello (Vincenzo Taormina), Schaunard (Nicholas Lester) and Colline (Lukas Jakobski) was rapidly established: the performers had a lively rapport, whether humorously burning manuscripts, dining out or taking drugs.

Keri Alkema was an affecting Mimì, singing to Rodolfo with emotional tenderness, with the Glyndebourne On Tour orchestra sensitively supporting every sigh.

Natasha Jouhl’s Musetta, by contrast, was flamboyantly articulate and dominated the scene from her first entrance – making her final subdued candlelit prayer deeply touching.

The costume designers, Mikki Engelsbel and Mark Bouman, also helped create the characters: innocent consumptive Mimi was swathed in soft layered knits, making a vulnerable contrast to Musetta’s look-at-me pink sequins and high heels.

The Glyndebourne Chorus filled the stage with bustling excitement, creating an urgent Christmas shopping buzz: characters such as the petulant Café Momus waiter all added to the scene. Richard Mosley-Evans stood out as bewigged buffoonish landlord Benoit, and Musetta’s wealthy lover Alcindoro, uncomfortably embarrassed by her attention-seeking antics.

A long scene change with the house lights up, and apparently incomplete supertitles were the only aspects that slightly detracted from this otherwise moving revival of a classic opera.