CARMEN / PROGRAM / Bastille / February / 2026
Description
No matter how much she warns them: "If you don't love me, I love you; if I love you, beware", Carmen enthralls and enraptures men, making them forget duty and reason. And so it is that a smitten Don José loses his honour for the sake of a flower thrown by a woman who knows no law other than her own desire.
No wonder this fiery gypsy caused a scandal on 3 March 1875, when Carmen premiered at the Opéra-Comique in front of an audience and press shocked by this "Castilian wantonness". Georges Bizet died three months later aged just 36, never suspecting that his last opera would become one of the most performed in the world.
Eschewing the myth and clichés attached to Carmen, Calixto Bieito delivers a harsh, sensual production in which raw desire is nothing more than the manifestation of a woman's passion for life, a woman courageous to the point of death.
Product information
- Publication Year
- 2026
- Technical specification
Duration : 3h00 with 1 interval
Language : French
Surtitle : French / English
Opening
First part
90 min
Intermission
30 min
Second part
60 min
End
Opera in four acts (1875)
After Prosper Mérimée