Carmen
Georges Bizet
Due to the pandemic situation and the uncertainties around large events, we must give up on all our opera performances in July 2021.
If you have tickets, don’t worry. You can now move your tickets and make a reservation for the performance of your choice in summer 2022. Read more here
Concerts and a singing competition will bring joy to this summer. Read more: Information about the concerts
Carmen is an opera of untamed passion. It’s about freedom, love unconstrained by rules, burning lust, jealousy and fatalism.
The world’s most popular opera reveals new layers upon closer inspection. Perhaps Carmen’s restlessness is fuelled by an innate need to belong somewhere – and to someone.
”Carmen’s lust for life and love is extremely fascinating. As an artist, I understand her inner fire and passion. Whatever life throws at you, you put your heart in it,” says Tuija Knihtilä, who radiates in the lead role.
Mezzo-soprano Carolyn Sproule’s strong and nuanced voice has made an impact around the world. In the last year, the young, rising talent was meant to sing the lead role in Carmen at three different opera houses in Canada, the United States, and Hong Kong, but the coronavirus pandemic cancelled all the performances. Just before lockdown, she performed as Dorabella in Così fan tutte at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Other performers include Helena Juntunen, the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition winner Johanna Wallroth, the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World winner Andrei Kymach, and the Swedish baritone Fredrik Zetterström. The phenomenal Amadi Lagha (Don José) is the very tenor who repeated his aria following rapturous applause in the summer 2018 Opera Festival.
The orchestra will be led by the Scottish conductor Garry Walker, ”a breath of fresh air in the European opera scene,” as Artistic Director Ville Matvejeff puts it.
Bizet’s composition beats to a Sevillian rhythm, but with the light-hearted and sophisticated air of his native France. Carmen promises an unforgettable night.
