Carmen, Georges Bizet – Opera – Live

A very exciting casting has been announced for this opera: Jonas Kaufmann, the tenor of all tenors, highly expected in the role of Don José, will sing alongside Kate Aldrich in the title role, qualified by the San Francisco Sentinel as "the Carmen of this Generation" and who will make her debuts at the Chorégies d'Orange, as well as the bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen who will perform Escamillo.

The annual festival of the Chorégies d'Orange presents George Bizet's Carmen on the stage of the prestigious Roman Theatre in Orange, a place also characterized by its exceptional acoustics. The opera is accompanied by the Choirs of the Angers-Nantes, Grand Avignon, Nice Operas, the Mastery Des Bouches Du Rhône, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, a regular guest of the Chorégies d'Orange, directed by Mikko Franck, its future musical director starting from September 2015.

Bizet composed this four acts comic opera after a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. An avant-gardist work, misunderstood by audiences when it was premiered in 1875, Carmen is without any doubt the most staged French opera across the world, and its Overture and « L'Amour est un oiseau rebelle » songs are timeless. Bizet's score alternates lyrical and tragic parts. In that way, both musical and theatrical performances can be highly expressive.

The plot takes place in Seville, Spain. Carmen is glamorous, she is a real "men hunter". A victim of justice, but also a heartbreaker, she is a free woman but her choices condemn her. The figure of Carmen shocked as much audiences when the opera was premiered as she fascinates nowadays. In Seville, going to jail after a fight with another cigar seller, Carmen, a Bohemian, seduces the young brigadier Don José, Micaëla's fiancé and promises him love if he gives her back her freedom...

Picture: Carmen © Philippe Gromelle Orange.