"There was something about casting aside of conventions and all those niceties that we're supposed to have in civilized life. "Carmen hit the world stages at the very height of the Victorian era, and it really spoke to people," Berger says. And to have this woman who smokes and does exactly what she pleases just blew everybody's mind." And none of that kind of explicit sexuality had been on the operatic stage at all. "We see her rolling up these cigars on her bare thigh. "This opera is so loaded with sexual imagery, it's not to be believed," McClary says. Musicologist Susan McClary says those first Paris audiences were not exactly ready for a free-thinking, blazingly real woman, who works in a sweaty cigar factory. Within minutes, she'll have a hapless soldier named Don Jose half-crazed with desire.īizet's Carmen premiered in Paris in 1875, at an opera house accustomed to staging family-friendly dramas. In her famous aria, Carmen sings, "Love is a rebellious bird that no one can tame." It's the type of carefree mantra she lives by. She smokes and drinks, runs with a band of smugglers and brings men to their knees just by crooning her breathy Habanera (audio). But for all her sexual charisma, Carmen's own fate, in Bizet's opera, says something about how society views strong women.Ĭarmen is the supreme diva of operatic femmes fatales. Again the perennial favorite, "Carmen," by Georges Bizet, will take the stage at opera houses in places like New York, London and Vienna.Ĭarmen owes its longevity, in part, to Bizet's sparkling music, and to its fearless, flirtatious title character. If you require handicap accessible seating, please call the Office of Alumni Relations at (610)330-5040 and we will pursue accommodations on your behalf.September marks the start of the new opera season. Price $22.50/ticket.These seats are only accessible via multiple steps. Seating is in the Family Circle Prime section. Omer Meir Wellber and Louis Langrée share conducting duties for Sir Richard Eyre’s powerful production. Mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine reprises her remarkable portrayal of opera’s ultimate seductress, a triumph in her 2017 debut performances, with impassioned tenors Yonghoon Lee and Roberto Alagna as her lover, Don José. Carmen was a scandal at its premiere but soon after became a triumphal success and has remained one of the most frequently staged operas in the world. The opera’s melodic sweep is as irresistible as the title character herself, a force of nature who has become a defining female cultural figure. Georges Bizet’s masterpiece of the gypsy seductress who lives by her own rules has had an impact far beyond the opera house. Join the New York City Alumni Chapter for an evening at the Metropolitan Opera to delight in a Met favorite, Carmen.
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