Carmen

Amongst Seville’s cigar makers, the gypsy Carmen is the most attractive and whimsical woman around. She is arrested for the assault of a friend, but the brigadier Don José is captivated by her beauty and lets her escape. For her, he loses his operational rank and then decides to desert and embrace the adventurous life of gypsies and smugglers.

Carmen is the French opera that is most performed around the globe and the most frequently played at the Opéra Comique. Nevertheless, this work of art first chocked the public with its visionary naturalism and independent heroine, whose Spanish tone, magnificently recreated between Paris and Boujival, didn’t make appear any gentler. After Bizet’s death, Carmen won the hearts of Vienna, Brussels, Saint-Petersburg, New York… and only triumphed in Paris in 1883.

In 2020, the visionary work of art gathers more influences while confirming its universal vocation. Andreas Homoki draws inspiration form his background in theatre history. Lon Yu directs the confluence of the francophone singers led by Gaëlle Arquez, who will, at last, sing the role she’s been triumphing with since 2017, in Paris.

Comic opera in four acts, Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy inspired by Mérimée. Created in 1875 at the Opéra Comique.