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Georges Bizet, Carmen

Overture - Act I

I: Introduction: "Sur la place chacun passe"

I: "Regardez donc cette petite" (Moralès, Soldiers, Micaëla)

I: "Avec la garde montante"

I: "Dites-moi, brigadier?" (Zuniga, Don José)

I: "La cloche a sonné (Soldiers, Young men, Cigarette factory Girls)

I: "Mais nous ne voyons pas la Carmencita" (Soldiers, Young men)

I: "Carmen, sur tes pas, nous nous pressons tous (Young Men, Cigarette factory Girls, Don José)

I: "Quand je vous aimerai?" - "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" (Habanera) (Carmen, Chorus)

I: "Monsieur le brigadier? - Parle-moi de ma mère!" (Micaëla, Don José / Don José, Micaëla)

I: "Votre mère avec moi sortait de la chapelle" (Micaëla, Don José)

I: "Ma mère, je la vois.." (Don José, Micaëla)

I: "Que son fils l'aime et la vénère" - "Eh bien, eh bien!" (Don José, Micaëla, Zuniga)

I: "Au secours!" (Cigarette factory Girls, Zuniga, Soldiers)

I: "Voyons, brigadier..." - "Tra la la la..." (Zuniga, Don José, Carmen, Cigarette factory Girls, Soldier, Don José)

I: "Près des remparts de Séville" (Carmen, Don José)

I: "Le lieutenant!... Prenez garde." (Don José, Zuniga, Carmen)

Act II

II: "Les tringles des sistres tintaient" (Carmen, Mercédès, Frasquita)

II: "Vous avez quelque chose à nous dire" (Zuniga, Lilas Pastia, Frasquita, Andrès, Mercédès, Carmen)

II: "Tout est bien alors" - "Vivat! vivat le toréro!" (Chorus, Zuniga, Mercédès, Frasquita, Escamillo, Carmen, Andrès, Lilas Pastia)

II: "Votre toast... je peux..." - "Toréador, en garde" (Escamillo, Pastia, Zuniga, Carmen, Chorus, Frasquita, Lilas Pastia, Dancaïre)

II: "Nous avons en tête une affaire!" (Dancaïre, Frasquita, Mercédès, Remendado, Carmen)

II: "Amoureuse... ce n'est pas une raison" - "Halte-là! Qui va là?" (Remendado, Don José, Mercédès, Frasquita, Dancaïre, Carmen)

II: "Je vais danser en votre honneur" (Carmen, Don José)

II: "La fleur que tu m'avais jetée" (Don José)

II: "Non, tu ne m'aimes pas!" (Carmen, Don José)

II: "Holà! Carmen! Holà!" (Zuniga, Don José, Carmen, Dancaïre, Remendado, Gypsies)

Act III

III: "Écoute, compagnon, écoute!" (Smugglers, Frasquita, Mercédès, Carmen, Don José, Dancaïre, Remendado)

III: "Mêlons!"/"Mêlons!"/"Coupons!" (Frasquita, Mercédès)

III: "Carreau! Pique!... La mort!" (Carmen)

III: "Quant au douanier, c'est notre affaire! (Carmen, Mercédès, Frasquita, Gypsies, Dancaïre, Remendado)

III: "Nous y sommes" (Guide, Micaëla)

III: "Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante" (Micaëla)

III: "Je suis Escamillo, toréro de Grenade" (Escamillo, Don José)

III: "Holà, José! (Carmen, Escamillo, Dancaïre, Don José, Smugglers)

III: "Halte! quelqu'un est là qui cherche à se cacher" (Remendado, Carmen, Dancaïre, Don José, Micaëla, Chorus)

Act IV

IV: "A dos cuartos!" (Chorus)

IV: "Les voici! voici la quadrille!" (Chorus)

IV: "Si tu m'aimes, Carmen" (Escamillo, Carmen, Frasquita, Mercédès)

IV: "C'est toi! - C'est-moi!" (Carmen, Don José)

Bizet's Carmen

Martin Kušej (stage director), Daniel Barenboim (conductor) – With Rolando Villazón (Don José), Marina Domashenko (Carmen)... and the Staatskapelle Berlin

Opera
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Cast

Martin Kušej — Stage director

Jens Kilian — Set designer

Heidi Hackl — Costume designer

Reinhard Traub — Lighting designer

Rolando Villazón — Don José

Marina Domashenko — Carmen

Alexander Vinogradov — Escamillo

Program notes

Martin Kušej's brilliant 2006 Carmen represents a landmark interpretation of a truly timeless opera. Led by Rolando Villazón as Don José and Marina Domashenko in the title role, the virtuoso cast joins forces with the celebrated Staatskapelle Berlin under the direction of the legendary maestro Daniel Barenboim. 

They make out that I am obscure, complicated, tedious, more fettered by technical skill than lit by inspiration. Well, this time I have written a work that is full of clarity and vivacity, full of color and melody. – Georges Bizet on Carmen in the summer of 1874.

In 1875, the 36-year-old Bizet was only a moderately successful opera composer. Little did he know that his new project, based on Prosper Mérimée's novella Carmen, was destined to immortalize his genius and become one of the most popular operas of all time. Ironically, the opera was met with incredibly negative critical reception, and when Bizet died of a heart attack on the night of its 31st performance, he died considering Carmen a failure. Just months later, the second production, mounted in Vienna, solidified the work's reputation as a masterpiece, and within the following three years, Carmen was produced in nearly every major European opera house!

This 2006 production was declared a great success, with Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón hailed by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as, "a perfect José, sung as he hasn't been sung in a long time." Marina Domashenko's lush mezzo-soprano voice and the illustrious Staatskapelle Berlin under the baton of Daniel Barenboim make this production an operatic experience not to be missed!

Photo: © Nyika Jancsó

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