Talking about Bizet’s Carmen does not require intellectual background. It is enough to listen to the soniquete of his most iconic march, the toreador, or the Habanera -a license, by the way, that the French composer took by using Sebastian Yradier’s melody- to evoke this masterpiece, Carmen, which is also set in Seville.
Fortunately, and in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of its premiere and the death of Georges Bizet, this June we will have the opportunity to enjoy it in Seville. And it will happen in an environment of extraordinary musical journey as is the Teatro de la Maestranza, which premiered Carmen for the first time in 1992.
Its fame precedes it and it is so contemporary because it brings together all the ingredients required for a great work.
An unfathomable musical repertoire supports with mastery this story, crossed by passion and tragedy, which connects with postulates of our times, crossed by passion and tragedy. This opera has a musical structure as hypnotic as its protagonist: Carmen, la cigarrera.
What is the opera ‘Carmen’ about?
“Carmen la cigarrera, Carmen beyond the myth, Carmen the passion, Carmen the independence, Carmen freedom of body and soul, Carmen: The Woman.
Carmen of Seville. Seville that of Carmen. Seville, of the working class women riding the first wave of feminism when no one had yet given it a name. Carmen and her will to be at the risk of her life. The freedom of work, the freedom of love. The sovereignty of free bodies.“
Based on the novel by Prosper Mérimée, Carmen’s opera tells the story of this gypsy woman who champions the free spirit and the obsession aroused by the soldier Don José for her.
The libretto written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy structures this opera, premiered in Paris in 1875, in four iconic acts .
Dates and tickets
The Teatro de la Maestranza gives us the opportunity to attend this performance (it was last performed in 2021), whose stage direction is by Emili Sagi, on June 13, 17, 18, 20 and 21 at 8:00 pm.
Karel Mark Chichon and Salvador Vázquez are responsible for the musical direction of this production of the Auditorio de la Diputación de Alicante.
Carmen features Maria Kataeva, Dalibor Jenis as the bullfighter Escamillo and Piero Pretti as Don José, among other great voices in a double cast for six performances.
A production to which are added the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville; the Maestranza Theater Choir, under the baton of Inigo Sampil and the Escolanía de Los Palacios, directed by Enrique Cabello.
From the theater say they have prepared this representation “with the same passion and the same joy with which Seville makes this opera part of its identity. Carmen as ambassador of a Seville that was and is avant-garde and that continues to defend the right, also, to beauty.”
Regarding the tickets, they range from 75 to 150 €, without forgetting the exclusive preview for under 30 years old. In this case, they usually have a single price of 20 € and is held, on occasion, on June 10.