I have seen Puccini’s “La bohème” five or six times at the Sarasota Opera since 1990, and while I may not remember every moment or singer from past productions as clearly as I’d like, I can’t remember ever feeling as engaged or moved by the performances and voices featured as in the new staging that is running in repertory through March 28.

Maybe it’s the awareness that we are nearing the end of Artistic Director Victor DeRenzi’s 44-year tenure building and leading the company, or that it is his last collaboration (for now) with his wife, Stephanie Sundine, whose transformation we witnessed from dramatic soprano to vibrant stage director over the years.

More likely, it’s the power and passion of Ashley Milanese as Mimi and WooYoung Yoon as Rodolfo, whose voices fill the Sarasota Opera House and caress you with warmth and feeling.

They are at the heart of the production about a group of bohemian artists struggling to survive with meager earnings and the love affairs that momentarily distract them from their work. It begins with great humor in a frigid loft, where the poet Rodolfo first meets and instantly falls in love with his neighbor, a seamstress named Mimi, who is looking for someone to relight her candle.

The humor of Rodolfo and his friends – the painter Marcello, the philosopher Colline and the musician Schaunard – trying to ward off the cold and taunting one another about their lives, gives way to emotion-filled yearning expressed by Mimi and Rodolfo. Puccini’s melodies soar from the Sarasota Opera Orchestra as you feel the passion building.

Sundine and her cast nicely navigate between group scenes and the boisterous second act outside Cafe Momus with the more intense intimate moments between Rodolfo and Mimi, along with the humorous but loving back and forth involving Marcello, who is reunited with his former lover, the singer Musetta.

The opera’s chorus and youth opera members help fill the stage with bustling life outside Cafe Momus on Christmas Eve, where Virginia Mims as Musetta flirts and taunts with Marcello, sung by Filippo Fontana – one of the company’s favorite comic performers. As she shamelessly tries to capture his attention before launching into a radiant version of “Quano me’n vo’,” better known as Musetta’s Waltz, he sits at the other end of a long table trying to ignore her come-ons by wolfing down a bowl of pasta.

As time passes, both couples have separated for reasons that don’t get much plausible explanation. Rodolfo is mostly worried that Mimi is dying and he’s not sure he can be of help or handle her loss. It’s one of the paradoxes of opera that even when a character like Mimi is dying of tuberculosis, her portrayer is asked to sing as if she has the healthiest lungs in the world. Milanese somehow manages to fulfill the musical requirements and make you hear and feel the character’s struggle.

Sundine and her cast have crafted nuanced characters filled with life and purpose that add to your affection for them, enhanced by the music.

The stage design by David P. Gordon, which the company has used since 2006, is an impressive display that fills the space and fits the elegance and wear-and-tear of the costumes by Howard Tsvi Kaplan.

Language has often felt like a barrier for me fully enjoying and embracing opera the way I might a Broadway musical because I’m constantly looking up to read the translations flashed on the small screen above the stage. For “‘La bohème” I kept my eye on the English meaning, but at some point, I realized that just watching the performers, I really didn’t need to wonder what they were singing. Every beat was filled with such clarity, you only had to watch and listen to be carried away.

‘La bohème’ by Giacomo Puccini. Conducted by Victor DeRenzi, directed by Stephanie Sundine. Presented by the Sarasota Opera, 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota. Reviewed Feb. 19. Runs through March 28. $32-$190. sarasotaopera.org; 941-328-1300