carmen
There is probably no stronger motive for hatred and murder than disappointed love. In Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, the simple soldier Don José quickly becomes a murderer. When he meets the attractive Carmen, he falls hopelessly in love with her - Don José commits himself to her for life and death. But Carmen soon turns to the torero Escamillo. All of them border crossers in life, Bizet's characters move in a dangerously explosive field of tension between attraction and rejection, between seriousness and play, between pleasure and self-abandonment, duty and desire.
To date, Bizet's Carmenhas lost none of its fascination in its relentless drama and the elemental effect of its melody. "This is a masterpiece in the truest sense, one of those rare compositions that reflect in the highest degree the musical aspirations of an entire age," said Tchaikovsky. However, the bourgeois audience at the 1875 premiere at the Paris Opéra Comique initially reacted with rejection of Bizet's work. It was perceived as too garish and too immoral. With her anarchic urge for freedom and her joyful femininity, the title character posed a threat to the established order. But opera soon began its triumphal procession and became an operatic myth of modern times.
Director Andreas Homoki combines the timeless nature of the material with a concrete theatrical situation: the starting point for his production is the location of the premiere, the Opéra Comique – with its playful, open form and multi-layered theatrical levels, Bizet’s work is noticeably linked to the genre cultivated there. The aspiring mezzo-soprano Marina Viotti, who was born in Lausanne, makes her debut as Carmen. One can also look forward to star tenor Saimir Pirgu, who is closely associated with the Zurich Opera House, as Don José. Łukasz Goliński is currently in demand worldwide as an escamillo. Bizet's immensely suggestive score still offers untapped potential for interpretation - General Music Director Gianandrea Noseda will certainly elicit new tones from this much-performed work.
