He interrupts her when he hears the summons to quarters. José’s voice is heard, and the friends leave Carmen alone.Ĭarmen greets José warmly. Frasquita and Mercédès agree, but Carmen is not interested. When the last customer has left, Le Dancaïre and Le Remendado try to persuade the women to join them on a smuggling expedition. As he leaves, Escamillo invites Carmen and her friends to come see him in the ring. He sings a song of bravery in the corrida and flirts with Carmen, but she indicates that she is taken at the moment. He suggests that she could do better than him, but she is currently in love and cannot think of another.Ī crowd is heard cheering Escamillo, a toreador. Zuniga tells Carmen that José is out of jail. José is arrested.Īct II: Lillas Pastia’s inn, one month laterĬarmen and her friends Frasquita and Mercédès entertain the customers. He unties her, and Carmen pushes him over and escapes through the crowd. Carmen persuades José to allow her to escape. Zuniga leaves José in charge while he prepares to have her jailed. Captain Zuniga sends José to arrest Carmen, who refuses to speak. Suddenly, there is a commotion: Carmen and another worker have been fighting. After she leaves, José is persuaded by the letter to marry Micaëla. Micaëla delivers a letter and a kiss from José’s mother. She throws a flower at José, who has ignored her, and reenters the factory with the other women. The last out is the gypsy Carmen, who teases the men with the possibility of her love. At noon, women emerge from a cigarette factory. José arrives with the changing of the guard. She says she will return when José is on duty. The soldiers try to get her to wait with them. A country girl, Micaëla, approaches looking for Don José, a corporal. Sung in French with English and Spanish projected titles.īroward performances sponsored by Ben and Carol Harrison in loving memory of Ben Photo courtesy of Robert Shomler for Festival Opera. The former artisticĭirector of Connecticut Opera, Maestro Waters conducts internationally and is a frequent guest on Metropolitan Opera broadcast intermission features. Returning to conduct is FGO former artistic director Willie Anthony Waters. Here last season as Giorgio Germont in La traviata. Mark Walters, Escamillo, returns to FGO after making his debut opening production of Puccini's La bohème, receiving the highest accolades. Miami's own Elaine Alvarez, Micaëla, made her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Mimì in the season TenorĪdam Diegel, Don José, was a National Finalist in the 2003 Metropolitan Opera National Auditions and recently made his European debut as Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur at the National Theater of Hungary. Murder that concludes the opera devastates audiences as much today as it did in 1875 when Carmen first premiered.īizet's score features one great melody after another, from the overture to the famous “Habanera” to the stirring “Toreador's Song.” The passion ofįlamenco, together with intoxicating dances and riveting drama set in the colorful backdrop of Seville, makes Carmen arguably the most famousįeatured in the title role is American mezzo-soprano Kendall Gladen, who last performed this role in 2008 for Los Angeles Opera, with Plácido Domingo conducting. In his passionate confrontation with Carmen outside the bullring, Don José's pleas for her to take him back are met with cold rejection.and the tragic Unfortunately, she is drawn to the dashing matador, Escamillo, and casts Don José aside, which Now a fugitive on the run, his life is in ruins. The seductive and tempestuous gypsy, Carmen, captures the heart of a young soldier, Don José. “Cuban American Elaine Alvarez has an imposing dusky soprano.speaks from the soul.” Opera Now Lustrous, rich-toned and pliant, with wonderfully burnished low notes and a pure, effortless-sounding top.” Oakland Review “The principal reason to see this Carmen, is Kendall Gladen in the title role.(She is) a statuesque beauty, and her voice is a marvel-large, Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy

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