Carmen - Opera - Season 22/23 Programming - Opéra national de Paris

  • Opera

    Carmen

    Georges Bizet

    Opéra Bastille - from 15 November 2022 to 25 February 2023

    Vincent Pontet / OnP

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Carmen

Opéra Bastille - from 15 November 2022 to 25 February 2023

Opera

Carmen

Georges Bizet

Opéra Bastille - from 15 November 2022 to 25 February 2023

2h55 with 1 interval

Language : French

Surtitle : French / English

  • Opening night : 15 Nov. 2022

About

In few words:

At the premiere of Carmen on March 3rd 1875 at the Opéra‑Comique, the audience, shocked by its “Castillian wantonness”, cried scandal! Georges Bizet, who died three months later, never knew that his opera was to become one of the most widely performed in the world. Although the success of this work can be attributed to its unforgettable melodies, it also owes much to the independent character of the celebrated cigarette factory worker: “Carmen will never give in. Born free, she will die free”, sings the heroine to Don José at the end of the opera. Her irrepressible liberty, coupled with the necessity to live on a knife’s edge, ever more intensely, is captured by Calixto Bieito’s production as by none other. From Mérimée’s original character, Bieito’s Carmen retains her profoundly Iberian contours and the ardent temperament of a woman living off small‑time trafficking. This rebel, however, is a thoroughly contemporary creature. A tantalising and indomitable vamp, she lives life in the fast lane, in an urgent desire to fully exist.

CHARACTERS

Carmen: A gypsy girl, working as a cigar-maker in a tobacco factory in Seville
Don José: A soldier and Carmen’s lover who deserts the army for her
Micaela: A young girl originally from Don José’s village
Escamillo: A toreador and one of Carmen’s lovers
Frasquita and Mercedes: Two gypsy girls who are friends of Carmen
Zuniga: Don José’s superior officer
Morales: A regimental comrade of Don José
Le Dancaïre and Remendado: Two smugglers
  • Opening
  • First part 85 mn
  • Intermission 30 mn
  • Second part 60 mn
  • End

Media coverage

  • Pirouetting and twirling on stage, [Clémentine Margaine] follows in the tradition of the piquant lover while adding the shadowy nuance that heralds her tragic fate.

    Olyrix
  • Calixto Bieito's violent and militant Carmen at the Opéra Bastille

    Télérama
  • A sultry Carmen at the Paris Opera

    Sceneweb
  • A torrid Carmen sets the Bastille on fire

    Artistikrezo
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Carmen

With Roberto Alagna, Ildar Abdrazakov, Elīna Garanča, Maria Agresta...

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Performances

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Advantages

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Audio clips

Carmen (saison 22/23)- Acte 1 (Michael Spyres, Gaëlle Arquez)

Carmen (saison 22/23) - Acte 3(Gaëlle Arquez, Andrea Cueva Molnar, Adèle Charvet)

Carmen (saison 22/23)- Acte 1 (Choeur d'enfants)

Carmen (saison 22/23) - Acte 2 (Michael Spyres)

Backstage

  • “Carmen” and the Paris Opera

    Slideshow

    “Carmen” and the Paris Opera

  • Draw-me Carmen

    Video

    Draw-me Carmen

  • Imaginaries Carmen

    Video

    Imaginaries Carmen

  • Carmen - headlong into the bullring

    Video

    Carmen - headlong into the bullring

  • Opera word for word - Carmen

    Podcast

    Opera word for word - Carmen

© Eric Mahoudeau / OnP

Slideshow

“Carmen” and the Paris Opera

A photographic retrospective

01’

By Octave

Since its creation at the Opéra-Comique in 1875, Bizet's Carmen has made frequent appearances at the Paris Opera along with its share of star-studded casts and daring stagings. To mark the work's return to the Opéra Bastille, in Calixto Bieito's production, a retrospective in images of the Opera's multiple visions of Carmen.
Draw-me Carmen

01:09’

Video

Draw-me Carmen

Understand the plot in 1 minute

By Octave

“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.  

Imaginaries Carmen

02:44’

Video

Imaginaries Carmen

A repertoire work narrated in a visual poem born of popular culture

By Marc de Pierrefeu

© Guergana Damianova / OnP

Carmen - headlong into the bullring

06:42’

Video

Carmen - headlong into the bullring

Interview with Gaëlle Arquez

By Marion Mirande

Who is Carmen? A rebel? The victim of a society she rejects and dares to confront? A woman in love? What are the vocal implications of the role? For her first Carmen at the Paris Opera, Gaëlle Arquez draws the portrait of Opéra’s most famous heroine.  

Opera word for word - Carmen

Podcast

Opera word for word - Carmen

Literary podcast evoking an opera and a stage director's vision

01’

By Benoit Maubrey, Marion Mirande

Georges Bizet's Carmen in Calixto Bieito's production, in the words of Théophile Gautier, Javier Cercas, Prosper Mérimée, Renaud Rebardy, Pascal Bruckner.

Copyright :

  • Théophile Gautier, Carmen dans Émaux et Camées, 1852
  • Javier Cercas, Les Lois de la frontière, (c) Actes Sud, 2014
  • Prosper Mérimée, Carmen, 1845
  • Renaud Rebardy, Les Filles de la Jonquera, (c) Mare nostrum, 2010
  • Pascal Bruckner, Le Paradoxe amoureux, (c) Grasset, 2009
  • Prosper Mérimée, Carmen, 1845

Quiz

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On-site Services

  • Cloakrooms

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  • Bars

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  • Boutiques

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  • Last-minute tickets

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