Organization

Conductor

Marc Piollet

Stage director

Calixto Bieito

Set designer

Alfons Flores

Costume designer

Mercè Paloma

Lighting designer

Xavi Clot

Singer

Mezzo-soprano

Béatrice Uria Monzon

Carmen

Tenor

Roberto Alagna

Don José

Soprano

Marina Poplavskaya

Michaela

Baritone

Erwin Schrott

Escamillo

Eliana Bayón

Frasquita

Itxaro Mentxaka

Mercedes

Marc Canturri

Dancaire

Francisco Vas

Remendado

Alex Sanmartí

Morales

Gran Teatre del Liceu

Others

Cor del Gran Teatre del Liceu

Orchestra

Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu

Barcelona

Spain

attracting attention all over the world for years with unconventional, sophisticated productions. He takes the opera away from a museum-like theater, occasionally provokes the conservative audience and always provides a topic of conversation. Georges Bizet's "Carmen", one of the most successful operas in the world, is set somewhere in the 1980s in his "extremely refined production" (Der Spiegel). Barcelona has an excellent cast of singers available for the story of eroticism, jealousy and violence.

Opened in 1847, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona is one of the leading opera houses on the international music scene. Numerous famous conductors and singers have performed there since it opened, and to this day the traditional house offers internationally acclaimed productions with world-class casts.

"This is a masterpiece in the truest sense of the word, that is to say, one of those rare compositions which reflects in the highest degree the musical aspirations of a whole age. And I truly know nothing in music that this element which I consider to be the pretty - le joli - means as embodied as this opera. I am convinced that in ten years' time 'Carmen' will be the most popular opera in the whole world." (Peter Tchaikovsky to Nadjeschda von Meck after one of the first performances of the opera)

"Bizet's opera 'Carmen' is - seen from a music-historical point of view - in a unique, ideal situation: it was created after the golden age of opera buffa, from which it uses the best elements, flanked by the two opera giants Verdi and Wagner, from which it derived Appropriating fundamental stylistic devices, composed before the rise of Italian veristic opera, whose most important characteristics it anticipates, 'Carmen' finds itself at a crossroads unique in operatic history." (Rene Leibowitz)

The gypsy Carmen, a worker in a cigarette factory, is swarmed by many men. Only Don José, the sergeant, doesn't look at her. He loves Micaela. When Carmen injures a colleague with a knife, Lieutenant Zuniga gives Don José the order to take her to prison. Carmen ensnares José, who lets her escape and has to go to prison in her place. Escamillo, the successful bullfighter, is enthusiastically received in a smugglers' bar. Trumpets call the soldiers, including Don José, who has since been released, to the barracks. Out of love for Carmen, José deserts and joins the smugglers.
Carmen's feelings for José cool down quickly. The smugglers flee when customs officers arrive. José shoots at a supposed customs officer and, when he realizes that it is Escamillo, throws himself at his rival in a frenzy of jealousy. Carmen can just separate the two.
Escamillo appears in front of the bullring together with Carmen, enthusiastically cheered. José lurks a few steps away. All warnings are in vain. Carmen throws the ring he gave her at José's feet. Humiliated and desperate, José stabs the gypsy.

Carmen Bizet

Public

Approved

Production booklet

Further reading