Metropolitan Opera Preview: Carmen

The most popular opéra-comique of all time has a bloody ending.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Oh my Darlin': Clémentine Margaine returns as Carmen.
Photo © 2018 The Metropolitan Opera.

The throaty French mezzo Clémentine Margaìne returns to the role that marked her Met debut: the seductive title part of Carmen. This run of performances will heat up the month of January.

A Certain Dark-Eyed Beauty of Romany Extraction

My long relationship with Bizet's Carmen.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

My Carmen collection: (clockwise from upper left: Victoria de Los Angeles (not pictured), Marilyn Horne,
Agnes Baltsa, Christa Ludwig, Teresa Berganza, Tatiana Troyanos (not pictured), Jennifer Larmore.)
Photo by the author, screen cap taken from my iTunes.

Q: "What do you call two guys driving to the opera house?"

A: "Carmen."- -Mauri E. Pelkonen

I first met her when I was nine (maybe ten) years old, in my first year of going to the New York City Opera with my parents. A dusky, dark-haired bohémienne vixen with a rich mezzo-soprano voice (it was either Judith Forst or Susanne Marsee) that seductively sang in French, a language I knew little of. And yet, for that prepubescent kid sitting in the New York State Theater with his Mom and Dad (at his fourth opera!) Carmen was already something special. The show mixed spectacle, comedy and tragedy in a dizzying brew, laughing in the orchestra even as its characters hurtled toward disaster in the fourth act. And thanks to Dad's record collection, I already knew some of the music.

Recordings Review: The Roar of the Flowers

Leonard Bernstein's very weird 1973 Carmen.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Leonard Bernstein (left) and Marilyn Horne (right) flank the stage director in rehearsals for Carmen.
Photo by F. Fred Sher © 1972 The Metropolitan Opera Archives. 

Despite having a long catalogue, Leonard Bernstein did not record that many operas. One of the more interesting ones is a 1973 recording of Carmen made by the maestro and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. It is not the best recording of George Bizet's opera but it is certainly interesting, capturing the energy of this seminal work. The recording is studio-bound, based on a series of six performances led by the maestro at the Met in October of 1972.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Carmen

The Met revives Carmen with its original cast. 
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Elina Garança as Carmen.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2009 The Metropolitan Opera.

This production of Carmen caused a sensation when it premiered in 2009. For this spring revival, Roberto Alagna and Elina Garança return as the ill-fated lovers whose mutual passion leads to death against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War.
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Obituary: Regina Resnik, 1922-2013

From Bronx baby to international opera star.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

A gypsy from the Bronx: Regina Resnik.

Regina Resnik, the opera singer who went from soprano roles to mezzo to a Tony-nominated career on Broadway, died today. She was 90.

Born in 1922 in the Bronx, Ms. Resnik studied drama and music at Hunter College. She vaulted to stardom on December 6, 1944, when she debuted at the Met. On just 24 hours notice, she stepped in for Zinka Milanov in Verdi's Il Trovatore. This launched a ten-year career playing opera heroines in works by Mozart Beethovem Wagner, Veri and uccini. She was the first singer to play Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes at the Met, and she created the role of Delilah in Bernard Rogers' now-forgotten opera The Warrior.

Opera Review: The Met's Magnetic Carmen

Reposted from The Classical Review.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Don José (tenor Yonghoon Lee, with knife) menaces Anita Rachvelishvili's Carmen in
Act IV of the Bizet opera. Photo by Ken Howard © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera.

Carmen returned to the Metropolitan Opera Friday night with an energetic new conductor, Michele Mariotti in his house debut. The performance crackled with a sense of barely controlled violence that suited Richard Eyre’s handsome, war-torn production. It also marked the return of Anita Rachvelishvili, who brought an earthy sensuality and a magnetic presence to the title role.

Read the whole review by Superconductor's own Paul J. Pelkonen, exclusively on The Classical Review.

Opera Review: There's a Riot Goin' On

Downtown Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble occupies Carmen.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

A fresh approach to bullfighting at Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble's "occupied" Carmen.
Photo amalgamation by the author, who does not endorse bullfighting or pepper spray.

George Bizet's Carmen is often mounted as grand opera, with crowds of milling orange sellers, bandallerias and marching children creating a whirlwind portrait of life in 19th century Seville. This new production by Christopher Fecteau's Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble (part of the company's summer repertory project) takes the opposite approach.

Using the confines of the black-box 13th St. Theater to maximum advantage, director Knud Adams added elements all too familiar to New Yorkers conversant with the Occupy Wall Street protests. Citizens were repeatedly "kettled" and threatened with pepper spray.  Don José (Adam Juran) was a riot control cop with safety vest and ready baton. Carmen (Elizabeth Shoup) was a lithesome leather-jacketed presence with an attitude to match, surrounded by an admiring throng of police, punks and riot grrls.

Dell'Arte's summer Standard Repertoire Project is geared toward helping younger singers move from the conservatory environment into the professional world. This was Ms. Shoup's debut in the complex title role, and she brought a dry, matter-of-fact edge to this familiar character. Although her singing was strongest in the two famous arias in Act I, she compensated with go-to-hell attitude and a refreshing lack of the standard clichés associated with this famous character.

Brass Tacks: Mezzo-Sopranos and Altos

Discussing the female voices that are lower than the soprano.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Mezzo extrem: Susan Graham in the title role of Handel's Ariodante.
Mezzo-sopranosoften play travesti ("trouser") roles in opera.
Photo by Terrence McCarthy, © Santa Fe Opera Festival.

Our series on voices and continues as we talk about mezzo-sopranos and contraltos (or altos), the lower ranges of the female voice. As usual, there are nice clips to go with the discussion.

It is a common misconception about opera that all works in the genre are written with a soprano in mind as the leading lady. Many composers (especially in French and Italian opera) wrote their works around the duskier sounds of the mezzo-soprano, a rich, chocolatey tone that may not soar to the same heights but can convey maturity, maternity, and above all, sexuality to the listener.

Carmen is written for a mezzo-soprano. So is Dalila. So is Verdi's Eboli in Don Carlo. All are great seductresses. Berlioz (another great French composer) was a big fan of this voice, writing mezzo parts for Didon (in Les Troyens) and Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust.

Mezzo-sopranos also play crucial travesti parts in operas: the title role in Handel's Serse for example.  Richard Strauss, who loved the sound of a mezzo voice singing with the soprano, created some memorable "male" roles: two famous examples are the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos and one of the greatest roles ever written for the range, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier.

The typical mezzo voice ranges from the G below middle C (the center of the piano keyboard) to the B two octaves above. Some mezzo-sopranos can sing a high C. (These are usually former sopranos trained to the note who take advantage of being able to span both ranges.) There is a wide variety of voices and a wide variety of roles--from the saucy heroines of Rossini operas to Wagner's own embodiment of Mother Earth.

Opera Review: The Carmen That Almost Wasn't

Bizet opera saved at 11th hour in Philadelphia.

Armed and dangerous: Rinat Shaham in the title role of Carmen.
Image © 2011 Vancouver Opera/Opera Company of Philadelphia.

Sunday afternoon's performance of Carmen by the Opera Company of Philadelphia almost didn't happen. Labor negotiations between stage-hands and the Kimmel Center (which also owns the venerable Academy of Music where the show was scheduled to take place) have not been going well, and the union was on strike as of last night.

But at the eleventh hour, the union granted a "cool-down" period of one week, allowing the Sunday matinee Carmen to proceed as planned.

And it was a good thing too. This is a simple, engaging production of the Bizet favorite, offering a sun-baked unit set and some clever directorial touches as backdrop to the deadly love story of the title heroine and her obsessed lover Don José. The performance was crisply conducted by Corrado Rovaris, with respect for the famous score.

Israeli mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham was an engaging, sexy Gypsy, rolling out sensual low notes in the Habañera and driving poor José (tenor David Pomeroy) into a sexual frenzy with the Seguedilla. But she seemed drained after the Card Song, and the Act IV confrontation did not come off. Perhaps she is better at portraying sex than anger.


Another positive: Ms. Shaham who knew the opera's history. In Act II, she clanked halves of a broken dish together (as called for in the libretto) instead of prestidigitating a pair of castanets. Her card-reading became a motif of the evening, although it was odd to watch her quickly check her fate (again) in the dusty street outside the Seville bullring.

David Pomeroy was an impressive Don José, unleashing his big voice in the later part of the Seguedilla and then singing the Flower Song with restraint and pitch control. This made this famous aria (really a monologue) chilling in its portrait of instability. José started to melt down in Act III, and Mr. Pomeroy added squillo to show the ex-soldier's rage. He dominated the final scene, and you could see him debating whether or not to kill her.

Ailyn Pérez was a beautiful, impressive Micaëla. With her pleasing, agile soprano, she made the "good girl" a viable alternative to the fiery Carmen. Her dialogue bits in Act I were restored, although the Act III scene with the guide was cut. She sang a lovely Act I Letter Duet with Mr. Pomeroy, and was steadfast in facing down the smugglers.

Jonathan Beyer's smallish baritone made him an underwhelming Escamillo: he played the toreador as an obnoxious popinjay. The fine bass Jeremy Milner (Zuñiga) was better suited, bringing a rich bass and some good comic acting to the role of Don José's unlucky superior officer. Greta Ball and Tammy Coil were an active Frasquita and Mercédés, but don't ask me which was which.

Little directorial touches added spice to this Carmen. Director David Gately added some good ideas: Zuñiga pointing a rifle to silence the Act I children's chorus; the parade of smuggled goods that went on behind the Act II gypsy dance. Also welcome: the decision to use the original spoken dialogue. This provides greater contrast to Bizet's music, and makes better dramatic sense in key scenes.

"You'll Shoot Your Eye Out, Kid."

Christine Rice as Carmen. Photo by Mike Hoban
 © 2010 Royal Opera House at Covent Garden 

3D Carmen Hits Theaters In March

The Royal Opera House of Covent Garden is planning the first ever movie theater broadcast of Carmen to be shown in 3D, coming to a theater (hopefully) near you on March 5.

Although series like the Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD have gained in popularity in recent years, opera has been relegated to just two dimensions on the screen. This film will use the Real3D technology developed for and featured in James Cameron's smash science ficton epic Avatar.

With its kinetic, memorable music, crowd scenes and passionate title character, Carmen is one of the most popular French operas of the 19th century. Georges Bizet's score is packed with famous melodies, but the real glory of Carmen is in the masterful overall structure, the brilliant orchestration, and the inexorable power of the story, which sets four passionate people hurtling along the path to inevitable destruction.

Carmen 3D preserves the acclaimed Francesca Zambello production of the opera, a co-production between the ROH, the Den Norske Opera based in Oslo, Norway and Opera Australia. Christine Rice sings the title role opposite Bryan Hymel as Don José. Aris Argiris sings Escamillo. No word on whether the Act IV bullfight will actually be staged, just because it would look cool in 3D.

Opera Review: Carmen's Latest Flame

Elīna Garanča as Carmen. Photo © 2010 Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

The presence of Elīna Garanča in the title role of the Met's new Carmen is one of the major reasons for its success. On Monday night, the latest tenor to fall victim to the wiles of the  Latvian mezzo-soprano was Brandon Jovanovich, who makes his Met debut in this run of performances as Don José.

Ms. Garanca has been roundly criticized for taking a 'cool' or 'cerebral' approach to the role of Bizet's hot-blooded Gypsy temptress. However, Monday night's performance had punch, power and passion, with electric undertones accenting the Habañera and Séguedille. She has a pleasing, agile voice, capable of powering through and adding to an ensemble, while dropping down to the lower ranges needed for the later acts of the opera. The highlight of her performance was the Card Song, sung with intelligence and resonant low notes from the chest.

The arc of Don José's descent--from ordinary soldier, to romantic bandit, to madman was expertly played by Mr. Jovanovich. His performance jelled in Act II, when he sang the Flower Song, that K2 of French tenor repertory. He was sure-footed throughout the shifting tonalities and textures that illuminate the diseased landscape of the character's mind. His Don José was a good soldier who went a little nuts in prison, only to have his attraction for Carmen flower (pun intended) into full-on obsession. In Act III and IV, as the obsession turns violent and abusive, Mr. Jovanovich's performance only got better. He made the final murder seem matter-of-fact, which is precisely what made it so chilling.


It is always interesting to hear a full bass as Escamillo. John Relyea had some rocky moments in the first part of the Toreador Song but settled in nicely at the first chorus. Mr. Relyea, who has branched into French repertory after singing many buffo parts at the Met, gave a dark, manly performance as the vain bullfighter. His Act III scene with Don José--made all the more convincing by a well-choreographed knife fight, was the best part of his performance.

Nicole Cabell has a pleasing, if smallish soprano. She gave a gutsy performance as Micaëla, José's long-suffering girlfriend. The Act I "Letter Duet" found her voice melding harmoniously with Mr. Jovanovich's. In Act III, with the aria "Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante" nearly stole the opera from her dark-eyed rival..

This run of Carmen features a conductor new to the Met, English National Opera music director Edward Gardner. His rhythms were not quite as crisp as one might desire, but he found the deep textures within Bizet's orchestrations and kept the opera moving at a lively clip. The Met Orchestra played with its usual panache and the chorus, always important in this most public of operas, were in top form.

Surviving Carmen: The Buyer's Guide

Elina Garanca in Carmen.
Photo ©2010 Ken Howard/The Metropolitan Opera

Like its namesake, the opera Carmen is an elusive creature. This quality extends to the recording studio, where a number of all-star teams have gone in to make the ideal recording of Bizet's opera, only to come up woefully short.

The list of divas defeated by Carmen includes names like Jessye Norman, Maria Callas, and even Joan Sutherland (whose Micaëla was nothing to write home about.) Famous conductors have tried to record this opera, only to be put out of court by disastrous tenors , weird taste in singers, or simple perversity in the production booth. With that in mind, here's a quick guide to the survivors: the recordings of Carmen that are worth owning.

There are only two.



Chor et Orchestre de la Radiodiffusion de France, cond. Thomas Beecham. 
Carmen: Victoria de los Angeles
Don José: Nicolai Gedda
Micaëla: Janine Michaeu
Escamillo: Ernest Blanc

This set is 51 years old, and still the benchmark.

Sir Thomas Beecham shows his vast experience as an opera conductor in this perfectly paced performance. He opts for the Giraud recitatives (which was standard practice back when this recording was made. Their presence lends the recording a flowing, dramatic quality.

Victoria De los Angeles is superb, sensual and deeply human in the title role. Gedda, always at home in French repertory, is at his finest in this early recording. Micaëla and Escamillo are not star singers, but both understand the part thoroughly and sing in idiomatic French.


London Symphony Orchestra cond. Claudio Abbado
Carmen: Teresa Berganza
Don José: Placído Domingo
Micaëla: Ileana Cotrubas
Escamillo: Sherrill Milnes

An Italianate Carmen from the jet age.

This studio recording was made following the 1977 Edinburgh Festival. Claudio Abbado and the LSO play like an orchestra shot out of a cannon, with a rapid prologue and quick pacing throughout the opera. The spoken dialogue is used throughout, adding to the theatrical feel.

Placído Domingo is in the prime of his voice. So is Milnes, as the swaggering bullfighter. Teresa Berganza has a smaller voice than most Carmens, but the force and intelligence behind her performance bring depth to the character. Ileana Cotrubas might be the best Micaëla on disc--pure luxury casting.

Opera Review: Under a Bloodlight

Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The dancers from the opening of Richard Eyre's Carmen.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2010 The Metropolitan Opera.

Richard Eyre's new production of Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera moves the action of Bizet's opera to the war-torn Spain of the 1930s, but that is just one innovative touch in this remarkable staging. Each act opens with a scena played out by two dancers, an idealized version of the relationship between Carmen and Don José. The opera's action is compressed in and around a crumbling, Romanesque arena that moves and rotates with the needs of the staging. It is the sort of bravura high-tech staging that the Met does well, and although the turntable noise can be distracting, the whole thing generally works.

Opera Review: A Fresh Take on Carmen.

Review of a Carmen telecast from Berlin.

Marina Domashenko and Rolando Villazón in Carmen

This innovative, wildly experimental Carmen directed by Martin Kusej was filmed in 2006 in Berlin. It featured Rolando Villazón's first performances as Don José, and a strong, domineering Carmen sung by the Russian mezzo Marina Domashenko. When Carmen begins and ends with the executon of Don José, anything can happen. And it does in this brilliant re-interpretation of Bizet's greatest opera.



Don Jose on death row is nothing new. In fact, he appears there in Prosper Mérimée's novella, where the whole story is told by José as he languishes in prison. Here, all the events are in flashback. This Don José is already around the bend when the curtain rises. Carmen does not destroy him. She is drawn into an abusive relationship and victimized by her decision to seduce José in the first act. The Card Song features a silent mass of choristers in white suits--harbingers of death. Micaëla dies in this version, killed by a smuggler's bullet, as does the bullfighter Escamillo, carried out by the chorus after being gored.

Villazón gives a harrowed, magnetic performance in the tradition of Domingo. His strong, flexible tenor navigates the treacherous Flower Song with intelligence and ease. He is a picture of wild-eyed intensity throughout, trapped between Carmen and Micaela, driven by his own mad urges. Marina Domashenko is a gorgeous, sexy, indomitable Carmen with good command of the French, natural acting ability and nimble feet. Although Domashenko dominates the actress from the Habañera onward, she is especially impressive in the quick-fire second act, with its gypsy dances and the acting out of her complex relationship with Don José. She saves her finest moment for the Card Song, mining the lower depths of the role to good psychological effect. And her sneering, spat "Tiens!" in the final scene becomes a searing last word before her death.

Norah Amsellem is strongly cast as Micaela, a pleasant-sounding soprano who wilts next to Domashenko's sensual Gypsy. Alexander Vinogradov is a pompous, popinjay Escamillo. The death of that character (killed in the bullring) is something that many Carmen lovers have wanted to see for a long time. Christof Fischesser is a memorable, bearish Zuñiga with a fine baritone voice. Daniel Barenboim leads the Deutsche Oper Berlin forces in a crisp reading of the score. The spoken dialogue is used here, preserving Bizet's dramatic structure and the flow of ideas in the music. The choral singing and orchestra are first-rate.




The final confrontation between Carmen and Don José