Passion Ignites in Opera Hunter's Sizzling Production
Opera Hunter is proud to produce George Bizet’s Carmen at the Warner’s Bay Theatre this July.
With a cast of over fifty performers and an orchestra of twenty-two players, this promises to be a spectacular production. In a first for Opera Hunter, they will be performing the opera in the original French, with surtitles.
Why is Carmen one of the world’s most performed operas?
First and foremost, because of the music. Bizet’s score is a masterpiece of Romanticism. He brings passion, great drama, tenderness,joy, and above all, dance! There are Spanish dances, the Cuban Habanera, the Spanish Seguidilla, the triumphant march of the Toreador’s song, and even a tarantella. Rhythms are the threads connecting everything, overlaid with some of the greatest melodies in opera.
The story of the opera is driven by love, obsession and jealousy. It is high romance, with characters who will give up freedoms and comforts for excitement and passion. Carmen herself defies stereotyping. She is a woman who lives for love and who expects that her lovers will embrace love without compromise. Army Corporal Don Jose abandons his fiancé, Micaela, to follow his passion for Carmen – but their tumultuous affair is doomed from the start.
Director Stewart McGowan says he wants to emphasise Carmen’s independence.
“Carmen and the women who surround her refuse to be passive. They are strong and independent and seek to celebrate their identities,” he said.
“Even Micaela, sung by Marian Moroney, takes risks. In her attempt to win back Don Jose, who has fled toa smugglers’ camp inthe mountains to be withCarmen, she travels into themountains alone. Her beautiful Act 3 Aria is full of the pathos of disappointed love.”
Christopher Bearman OAM is the conductor, while Mercia Buck OAM is the Music Director. Anthea Harrington and Ellen Malone will play Carmen, and Sam Elmi and Raphael Hudson will play Don Jose.
The opera opens on Wednesday, 10 July and plays until Sunday, 21 July, at the Warners Bay Theatre. Tickets are available from www.stickytickets.com.au.
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