Opera Georges Bizet "Carmen" (Opera in four acts) World famous Bolshoi Ballet and Opera theatre (established 1776) - Small Stage
Running time: 3 hours 10 minutes
The performance has 1 intermission
Schedule for Georges Bizet "Carmen" (Opera in four acts) 2022
Composer: Georges Bizet Choirmaster producer: Valery Borisov Light Designer: Damir Ismagilov Director: David Pountney Scenography: Robert Innes-Hopkins Costume Designer: Marie-Jeanne Leca Director: Julia Pevzner
Orchestra: Bolshoi Theatre Symphony Orchestra
Opera in 4 act
Performed in French with Russian supertitles
Premiere of this production: 22 April 2008
Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy after the novel of the
same name by Prosper Merimee Original version with
dialogues
Music Director: Yuri
Temirkanov Stage Director: David Pountney Set
Designer: Robert Innes Hopkins Costume Designer:
Marie-Jeanne Lecca Chorus Master: Valery
Borisov Lighting Designer: Damir
Ismagilov Choreographer: Beate Vollack Assosiate
Director: Julia Pevzner
The Bolshoi Theatre has done seven productions of Carmen. But now, in its
232nd season and, for the first time in its history, the Theatre is to produce
the opera with dialogue in place of recitative. The public will have a unique
opportunity of hearing one of the most popular operas of all times in its
original form, i.e., as it was heard by the audience at its world premiere at
the Paris Opera Comique. The new production is by Yuri Temirkanov and David
Pountney, two performing arts personalities of world renown.
Yuri Temirkanov - People’s Artist of the USSR, winner of USSR State
Prizes and of the State Prize of Russia, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director
of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Conductor Laureate of London’s
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Danish National
Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 1978, he conducted a production of Rodion
Shchedrin’s opera Dead Souls at the Bolshoi.
David Pountney made his opera debut in 1972 with a production of
Janбиek’s Katya Kabanova for the Wexford Festival. From 1982-93, he was Director
of Productions for London’s English National Opera (his production of Macbeth
was seen at the Bolshoi during the ENO’s 1989 Moscow tour). He has produced
several dozen operas for the Metropolitan, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State
Opera, and for the Salzburg and Bregenz Festivals. In 2003, he was appointed
Intendant of the Bregenz Festival.
Synopsis
ACT I.
In a
square in Seville, townspeople and soldiers relax in the summer sun. Micaela
arrives in search of her sweetheart, Don Jose, a corporal. A fellow officer,
Morales, tells her Jose will be there later, then offers himself as a
substitute, but she leaves hastily. As the guard changes, children parade,
imitating the soldiers ("Avec la garde montante"), whose number now includes
Jose. At the sound of the noon bell, girls from the cigarette factory come to
smoke and chat ("Dans l’air"). Carmen, a Gypsy who works in the factory, flirts
with the local men, airing her philosophy of life: love is a wild bird that
cannot be tamed (Habanera: "L’amour est un oiseau rebelle"). Sullen and
distracted, Jose sits apart. Drawn by his indifference, Carmen tosses him a
flower from her bodice as the work bell calls the girls back inside. Micaela
returns to give Jose news of his mother, who has sent him a kiss, which the girl
delivers shyly ("Parle-moi de ma mиre"). No sooner has she left than a
disturbance is heard in the factory: Carmen is involved in a fight. The girls
run out, arguing over who started it. Lt. Zuniga orders Jose to arrest Carmen,
but she resists their questions with brazen nonchalance. Her wrists bound, she
is left alone with Jose, who forbids her to speak to him. Instead, she flirts
with him by singing "to herself" about Lillas Pastia’s inn and the rendezvous
she might make with "a certain officer" who has taken her fancy (Seguidilla:
"Prиs des remparts de Seville"). Jose, intoxicated, agrees to let her escape in
exchange for the promised rendezvous; when she pushes him to the ground and runs
off, he is arrested for his negligence.
ACT II.
A
month later, at Lillas Pastia’s, Carmen regales the customers with a Gypsy song
("Les tringles des sistres tintaient"). The matador Escamillo arrives, boasting
of his exploits in the arena ("Votre toast"). He is immediately attracted to
Carmen, who puts off his amorous advances. When the inn closes, Dancaire and
Remendado try to convince Frasquita, Mercedes and Carmen to accompany them on
their next smuggling trip. The girls are game, except for Carmen, who says she
is in love with Jose and is awaiting his return from prison (quintet: "Nous
avons en tкte"). The others laugh at her, then depart as Jose is heard
approaching. Carmen sings and dances for him, but when a distant bugle sounds
the retreat, he says he must return to the barracks. Carmen angrily mocks him,
saying he doesn’t love her, and he replies by telling her how he has kept the
flower she threw, the scent of its wilted blossom conjuring up her image in his
prison cell ("La fleur que tu m’avais jetйe"). He refuses her suggestion that he
join her wild mountain life, but when Zuniga breaks in, looking for Carmen, Jose
loses his temper and attacks his superior. Carmen summons the other Gypsies, who
throw the lieutenant out. Jose, now an outlaw, has no choice but to join their
band.
ACT III.
In
their mountain hideout, the smugglers congratulate themselves on their
successful trade, but Jose is unhappy. Carmen finds his homesickness tiresome
and occupies herself with her friends, reading fortunes in the cards. Frasquita
foresees a lover for herself, Mercйdиs a rich husband, but Carmen sees only
death ("En vain pour йviter"). The Gypsies leave Jose as lookout, and Micaela
enters, frightened but determined to find him ("Je dis que rien ne
m’йpouvante"). She hides at the sound of a shot, fired by Jose as a warning to
Escamillo, who has come looking for Carmen. The two men start to fight but are
separated by the Gypsies. Escamillo invites them all to his next bullfight and
leaves. Remendado discovers Micaela, who has come to beg Jose to return home to
his ailing mother. Carmen dismisses him willingly, but Jose, convinced she wants
to be rid of him in order to take up with Escamillo, vows to find her again
after he has seen his mother.
ACT IV.
In Seville’s Plaza de Toros, the crowd gathers for the bullfight, hailing
Escamillo. He and Carmen declare their love, and he enters the ring. Carmen’s
friends warn that Jose has been spotted nearby, looking desperate, but she is a
fatalist and defiantly remains in the square to face him. He enters ("C’est
toi?") and begs her to return to him, saying there is still time for them to
start again. She replies that everything is finished between them, tossing his
ring in his face as the crowd is heard cheering the triumphant Escamillo. When
Carmen tries to run past Jose into the arena, he stabs her, then falls by her
body in despair.
© Photo by Damir Yusupov/Bolshoi Theatre
Schedule for Georges Bizet "Carmen" (Opera in four acts) 2022
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