Version by Ernest Guiraud Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella by Prosper Mérimée
Performed in French with Russian surtitles
The opera was written in 1874. This version was first performed in Perm in 2005.
At the première of the original version of Carmen at the Opéra Comique in Paris, the respectable bourgeois audience was shocked by the story of the murder of the debauched gypsy girl by a jealous, foul-mouthed soldier. Before that time, such a plot could never have been shown on the operatic stage. Ten years later, Bizet’s Carmen returned to the stage as an acknowledged masterpiece. This was down to Ernest Guiraud, in whose version the spicy dialogues were replaced by high-flown recitatives, and there was nothing to prevent the audience from enjoying the music. In Georgy Isaakyan's interpretation, Bizet’s masterpiece again has the ability to shock the audience with its animal passions.
The production is staged with the support of the Pearl of the Urals Foundation
Age category: 16+