SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2010

See functions of July

Opéra-comique in four acts. Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy based on the novel by Prosper Mérimée. Music by Georges Bizet. First performed on 3 March 1875 at the Opéra Comique in Paris.

First Barcelona performance at the Teatre Líric on 2 August 1881. First performed at the Gran Teatre del Liceu on 26 January 1888.


One performance will be broadcast to the beach in Barcelona in July.

Carmen, a veritable archetype of opera, is unrivalled in popularity and the admiration of both musicians and artists. It has given rise to numerous adaptations and owes it greatness to its innovative conception, well-crafted plot and brilliant melodic, harmonic and instrumental inventiveness.

It relates the clash between a gypsy who passionately defends her personal sense of freedom and a Navarrese soldier with a possessive, traditionally male mentality. Their relationship unleashes a tragedy that extends far beyond the setting, preventing it from degenerating, as could so easily have happened, into the stereotypical Andalusia of bullfighters and castanets. This new production, directed by Calixto Bieito, is based on the one he created for the Peralada Festival.