Image courtesy of Nice Opera
In a coproduction with the Anthéa Theatre of Antibes, Nice Opera stages Georges Bizet’s opera-comique, Carmen. The production stars Ramona Zaharia as the fiery, passionate and seductive Carmen, and Jean-François Barros as Don José, the army corporal who falls for Carmen’s attractions. Jean-Fernand Setti is Escamillo, the handsome toreador who is well aware of his appeal to women, and Perrine Madoeuf is Micaëla, the sweet peasant girl who is betrothed to Don José. Lionel Bringuier leads the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra and the Nice Opera Chorus, and stage direction and lighting are by Daniel Benoin.
In 1872, Georges Bizet was commissioned to write a new work by the Paris Opéra-Comique – an institution known historically for its light, moralistic, safe and predictable pieces – and although the aim of this commission was to try and raise the theatre from its somewhat dull reputation, the co-directors had no idea just how revolutionary Bizet’s opera would be.
Based on an 1845 novella by Prosper Mérimée, with a libretto in French by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, Bizet’s Carmen – an opera in four acts – broke new ground, focussing on the underclass – the so-called ‘common folk’, which included gypsies, smugglers and factory workers, women who smoked in public, who were involved in physical fights and who were sexually free. Consequently, when the opera premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3rd March 1875, it was condemned by the critics as immoral and vulgar. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the premiere.
Bizet, who had taken a lot of care to familiarise himself with the music of Andalusia – the region in which the original story of Carmen was set – was devastated by this reception, and at the time of his death, three months after the premiere, he was certain that he’d written the greatest failure in the history of opera. He didn’t live to see how successful his Carmen would become – nor did he know of the prediction of Tchaikovsky no less, that within 10 years, it would become “the most popular opera in the world”.
Romanian mezzo-soprano Ramona Zaharia has appeared in some of the world’s most renowned opera houses, such as the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Latvia Opera, Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro Valli Reggio Emilia and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf, where she has been an ensemble member since the 2014/15 season. She has sung the role of Carmen in more than 19 different productions, including at Latvian Opera Riga, Stuttgart Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Metropolitan Opera, and in addition she has a repertoire which includes the roles of Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlo, Fenena in Verdi’s Nabucco, Dalila in Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila, Amneris in Verdi’s Aïda, Erda in Wagner’s Das Rheingold, Dinah in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti and Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto.
French tenor Jean-François Borras has appeared in numerous productions of Carmen – including at the Opéra de Paris, Oper Frankfurt, Teatro Regio in Turin, at Opéra de Toulouse, Teatro Calderon de Valladolid, Hamburg State Opera and at Teatro San Carlo. He has performed roles such as Chavalier Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon at the Opéra de Paris, in Monte-Carlo, Valencia and at Staatsoper in Wien. He has sung the roles of Raimbaut in Meyerbeer’s Roberto le Diable, Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata in Monte-Carlo, the title roles in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust and Massenet’s Werther at Monte-Carlo Opera, and made his debut in the title role of Eugene Onegin at Theatres des Champs Elysées. He replaced Jonas Kaufman in Massenet’s Werther at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2014, to which he returned in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Puccini’s La bohème, Massenet’s Werther and Delibes’ Thaïs.
Bass-baritone Jean Ferrand Setti’s journey has led him to perform on both national and international stages, where he has most recently appeared as Capulet in Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet in Hong Kong, as Escamillo in Carmen at the Edinburgh Festival and the Opéra Comique in Paris, and Nourabad in Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers at Capitole de Toulouse. He has also appeared as Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte at the Capitole de Toulouse, the Marquis de la Force in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites at Opéra de Rouen, Monterone in Verdi’s Rigoletto at Opéra de Rouen, and Angelotti in Puccini’s Tosca at Opéra de Toulon.
French soprano Perrine Madoeuf has sung the role of Micaëla with Estonian National Opera and Latvian National Opera, and Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust with Latvian Opera. She made a memorable debut as Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, standing in at the Opéra Comique in Paris in 2021. Other recent engagements include her debut as Micaëla at the Royal Danish Opera, Juliette with Bern Opera, Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust and Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Estonian National Opera, and Eurydice in Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers at Nice Opera.
Also in the cast are Lamia Beuque as Mercedes, Charlotte Bonnet as Frasquita, Jean-Gabriel Saint-Martin as The Dancer, Nestor Galvan as Remendado, Guilhem Worms as Zuniga and Richard Rittelmann as Morales. Sets are by Jean-Pierre Laporte, costumes by Nathalie Benoin and video by Paulo Correia.
Lionel Bringuier leads the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra and Nice Opera Chorus in four performances of Carmen between May 28th and June 3rd at Nice Opera.
The production is sung in French, surtitled in French and English.
Children aged 5 – 10 years are able to accompany their parents to the show and participate in an original cultural activity for €5. Information and bookings at the box office, subject to availability.
The opera season at Nice Opera closes with a firework display.
Information sourced from:
Nice Opera programme notes
Carmen
Artists’ websites
A version of this article first appeared in Riviera Buzz
Leave a Reply