Carmen

THE ROYAL OPERA PRESENTS BARRIE KOSKY’S NEW PRODUCTION OF BIZET’S CARMEN
CAPTURED LIVE TUESDAY 6 MARCH 2018

The Royal Opera presents Georges Bizet’s Carmen– one of the most famous and popular operas ever written in a new production by Australian director Barrie Kosky, first seen at Oper Frankfurt in 2016.

Barrie Kosky made his highly successful Royal Opera debut in 2016 when he directed Shostakovich’s The Nose – a surrealist satire that was greeted with delight.
Combining passion, sensuality and violence, Carmen proved too shocking for the audience on its 1875 premiere and the opera was initially a critical failure. In spite of this, the popularity of such arias as the Habanera and the Toreador Song helped Carmen become one of the best loved operas, being performed more than 500 times at the Royal Opera House alone.

The story charts the troubled relationship between the naive young soldier Don José and the fiercely independent gypsy girl Carmen, which when poisoned by jealousy, reaches a tragic conclusion. Kosky’s far-from-traditional staging gives this timeless story of passion and revenge a fresh perspective. This production draws on the theatre styles and conventions of opéra comique, operetta, revue and vaudeville that inspired Bizet when creating the work. It also incorporates music written by Bizet in the original score, which was then not included at the premiere and has not been heard since. Barrie Kosky’s Carmen is a theatrical showpiece that surprises and delights!

Jakub Hruša conducts an international cast of singers including Russian mezzo-soprano Anna Goryachova as Carmen and Italian tenor Francesco Meli as Don José.