We left at the interval...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday June 15 2025 Conductor: Nathalie Stutzmann. Production, sets and dialogues: Dmitri Tcherniakov. Costumes: Elena Zaitseva. Lighting: Gleb Filshtinsky. Carmen: Stéphanie d’Oustrac. Don José: Attilio Glaser. Micaëla: Anne-Catherine Gillet. Escamillo: Edwin Crossley-Mercer. Zuniga: Christian Helmer. Moralès: Pierre Doyen. Frasquita: Louise Foor. Mercédès: Claire Péron. Le Dancaïre: Guillaume Andrieux. Le Remendado: Enguerrand De Hys. L’administrateur: Pierre Grammont. La Monnaie Orchestra, Chorus, Youth and Children’s Choirs. Photos: © Bernd Uhlig La Monnaie’s new Carmen was originally staged in Aix in 2017. Like thousands of others, I saw it on video afterwards, and though I was impressed by Michael Fabiano’s fervent commitment to Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production concept, otherwise didn’t enjoy it much. I was bored by the unchanging set, and, though I’d found it intriguing when it was a novelty in 2012 , a bit fed up, thirteen years and several productions...

ONP Bastille, Tuesday June 13 2017 Conductor: Mark Elder. Production: Calixto Bieito. Sets: Alfons Flores. Costumes: Mercè Paloma. Lighting: Alberto Rodríguez Vega. Don José: Bryan Hymel. Escamillo: Ildar Abdrazakov. Le Dancaïre: Boris Grappe. Le Remendado: François Rougier. Zuniga: François Lis. Carmen: Anita Rachvelishvili. Micaëla: Marina Costa-Jackson. Frasquita: Vannina Santoni. Mercédès: Antoinette Dennefeld. Moralès: Jean-Luc Ballestra. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine/Paris Opera Children's Choir. In March I wrote : “As far as I remember, this was the best Carmen production I've seen, however upset the noisy old biddies behind were at the absence of fans and mantillas and castanets and donkeys and all the rest. I may well go back and see it with Anita Rachvelishvili and Hymel in June...” I did and crikey am I glad. The best production of Carmen I’ve ever seen (still, ridiculously, booed a bit), this time with the...

ONP Bastille, Wednesday March 22 2017 Conductor: Bertrand de Billy. Production: Calixto Bieito. Sets: Alfons Flores. Costumes: Mercè Paloma. Lighting: Alberto Rodríguez Vega. Don José: Roberto Alagna. Escamillo: Roberto Tagliavini. Le Dancaïre: Boris Grappe. Le Remendado: François Rougier. Zuniga: François Lis. Carmen: Clémentine Margaine. Micaëla: Aleksandra Kurzak. Frasquita:Vannina Santoni. Mercédès: Antoinette Dennefeld. Moralès: Jean-Luc Ballestra. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine/Paris Opera Children's Choir. Bizet I read that at the start of this run of Carmen Roberto Alagna was announced sick, though he still sang. I'm glad to say (and was glad to announce via Facebook to certain avid fans of his in the US) that on Wednesday night he was on peak form, the very picture of vocal health,  firing on all cylinders. His singing was as full, frank and generous as ever, with the outstanding French diction we're no...

ONP Bastille, Monday December 10 2012 Conductor: Philippe Jordan. Production: Yves Beaunesne. Sets: Damien Caille-Perret. Costumes: Jean-Daniel Vuillermoz. Lighting: Joël Hourbeigt. Don José: Khachatur Badalyan. Escamillo: Ludovic Tézier. Le Dancaïre: Edwin Crossley-Mercer. Le Remendado: François Piolino. Zuniga: François Lis. Morales: Alexandre Duhamel. Carmen: Anna Caterina Antonacci. Micaela: Genia Kühmeier. Frasquita: Olivia Doray. Mercedes: Louise Callinan. Lillas Pastia: Philippe Faure. Un Guide: Frédéric Cuif. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Hauts de Seine and Paris Opera Children’s Choruses. Pourquoi tant de haine ? It’s easy to see why La Monnaie’s new Traviata got booed. It’s harder to see what it is about Paris’s new (blow-job-free) Carmen that raises people’s hackles. It certainly doesn’t raise many questions, bombard you with ideas or wow you with in-depth characterisations, but it turns out to be a fairly well-managed, conventional show. We’...

Opéra Comique, Paris, Saturday June 20 2009 Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Production: Adrian Noble. Sets & Costumes: Mark Thompson. Lighting: Jean Kalman. Carmen: Anna Caterina Antonacci. Don José: ???????*. Micaëla: Anne-Catherine Gillet. Escamillo: Nicolas Cavallier. Le Dancaïre: Françis Dudziak. Le Remendado: Vincent Ordonneau. Zuniga: Matthew Brook. Moralès: Riccardo Novaro. Frasquita: Virginie Pochon. Mercédès: Annie Gill / Louise Innes. Lillas Pastia: Simon Davies. Un guide: Lawrence Wallington. The Monteverdi Choir. Hauts-de-Seine children's choir. Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. For Le Monde , “Obviously Anna Caterina Antonacci steals the show, embodying a Carmen of icy fire, with impeccable diction and sovereign musicality, ardent but never carried away by her passions. Her vocal projection enables her to murmur what so many of her fellow-singers hammer out.” According to Webthea , “She combines her beauty, sensuality and acting strengths with impec...

Opera Australia – Sydney, Thursday March 6 2008 Conductor: Stephen Mould. Director: Francesca Zambello. Moralès: Andrew Moran. Micaëla: Tiffany Speight. Don José: Rosario La Spina. Zuniga: Shane Lowrencov. Carmen: Catherine Carby. Frasquita: Amy Wilkinson. Mercédès: Sian Pendry. Lillas Pastia: Danielle Antaki. Escamillo: Joshua Bloom. Being in Sydney for the first time, I thought I’d better go, even if the only choice was between Carmen and La Bohème . I plumped for Carmen , preferring Bizet to Puccini, and, knowing that Zambello’s productions can be very good or very bad, hoping it might be one of the former. It was a grand, audacious gesture to build the Sydney Opera House as and where it is. As I remember, at the time it led to a great deal of blood, sweat and tears, but the result must be one of the most interesting opera houses in the world – and probably the most spectacularly-located of all. The building is certainly more interesting close up than in photos: less bland in colou...

Châtelet, Paris, Thursday May 17 2007 Conductor: Marc Minkowski. Production from the Staatsoper unter den Linden, Berlin: Martin Kusej, restaged by Elena Tzavara. Carmen: Sylvie Brunet. Don José: Nikolai Schukoff. Escamillo: Teddy Tahu Rhodes. Micaëla: Genia Kühmeier. Le Dancaïre: Alain Gabriel. Le Remendado: François Piolino. Zuniga: François Lis. Moralès: Boris Grappe. Frasquita: Gaële Le Roi. Mercédès: Nora Sourouzian. Les Musiciens du Louvre – Grenoble. Chorus of the Musiciens du Louvre. Sotto Voce and Maîtrise de Paris children's choruses.   Bizet's Don José Quite often these days directors are criticised for taking "stage business" to mean busy staging, afraid that audiences with a supposedly short, TV-influenced attention span will switch off if nothing much happens during an aria. Martin Kusej's Carmen must be one of the fidgiest productions I've ever seen. The thing even managed to open with two "ideas". First, a red scarf fell from t...