No sooner had Prosper Mérimée introduced the myth of the gypsy Carmen to the world in 1845 than she became the epitome of the femme fatale, an independent woman who rides rough-shod over the obstacles imposed by men, a sort of blank verse that threatens the rules of bourgeois, patriarchal society. Carmen is a worker, on the fringe of society, and a seductress. She lives and loves as she wishes and is predestined to tragedy by her radical sense of freedom. An officer, Don José, becomes infatuated with her, mistakes the promise of a night of love for a vow of eternal love, and finds himself drawn into a world of violence and lawlessness. Calixto Bieito’s production — set in a car cemetery in some southern land — shuns the folklore associated with Georges Bizet’s Carmen, though it does use patriotic clichés and symbols to call for women’s freedom in a male-dominated world.

Carmen

Opéra-comique in four acts. Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy based on the novel by Prosper Mérimée. Music by Georges Bizet. Premiered on 2 March 1875 at the Opéra Comique in Paris. First Barcelona performance at the Teatre Líric on 2 August 1881. First staged at the Gran Teatre del Liceu on 26 January 1888. Last seen at the Gran Teatre del Liceu on 30 July 2011.

Conductor
Ainars Rubikis

Stage Direction
Calixto Bieito

Scenography
Alfons Flores

Costumes
Mercè Paloma

Lighting
Alberto Rodríguez

Co-production
Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Massimo (Palermo), Teatro Regio (Turin) and La Fenice (Venice)

Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu

Chorus director
Peter Burian

Cor Vivaldi-Petits Cantors de Catalunya

Children’s chorus director
Peter Burian