Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Maîtrise des Hauts-de‑Seine / Paris Opera Children’s Chorus

Main informations
“Carmen will never surrender, born free, free will she die” cries Bizet’s heroine to Don José at the end of the opera. This irrepressible freedom, coupled with a need to live ever more intensely on a knife-edge, is present in Calixto Bieito’s production as in no other. Of Mérimée’s character, Bieito’s Carmen retains her thoroughly Iberian contours and the burning temperament of a woman who lives by small-time trafficking. However, the rebel bird is essentially a creature of our own times. A brazen and indomitable seductress and a product of social and masculine brutality, she lives life in the fast lane, avid for existence.

Opera in four acts (1875)
Music / Georges Bizet
Libretto / Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy
After / Prosper Mérimée
Conductor / Sir Mark Elder
Director / Calixto Bieito
Sets / Alfons Flores
Costumes / Mercè Paloma
Lighting design / Alberto Rodríguez Vega
Chorus master / José Luis Basso
Assistant chorus master / Alessandro Di Stefano
Carmen / Elīna Garanča
Don José / Roberto Alagna
Micaëla / Maria Agresta
Escamillo / Ildar Abdrazakov
Frasquita / Vannina Santoni
Mercédès / Antoinette Dennefeld
Le Dancaïre / Boris Grappe
Le Remendado / François Rougier
Zuniga / François Lis
Moralès / Jean-Luc Ballestra
Lillas Pastia / Alain Azérot
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