Carmen

Represented on stages all over the world and whose arias are immediately recognisable to melomaniacs and neophytes alike, think of L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera) – Carmen è a symbolic opera of the search for the freedom to love, a plastic depiction of the gender violence that springs from an overwhelming passion. The title was initially little appreciated and found its fortune only after the death of its composer: the debut of the Paris premiere, in fact, did not meet with public approval, scandalised by the scabrous story represented, but after a few months in Vienna – unfortunately after the premature death of its author – the opera finally found the success that made it an immortal title in the history of music. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the first performance, which took place at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875, the new production of Carmen will feature Maestro Sergio Alapont, a specialist in the French repertoire, conducting the orchestra.
The production – co-produced by the Theatres of OperaLombardia (the Grande of Brescia, the Ponchielli of Cremona, the Fraschini of Pavia, the Sociale of Como and the Donizetti of Bergamo), together with the Teatro Comunale Pavarotti-Freni of Modena, the Teatro Municipale of Piacenza and the Teatro Dante Alighieri of Ravenna – will bear the signature of director Stefano Vizioli and will be completed with sets by Emanuele Sinisi, costumes by Annamaria Heinreich and lighting by Vincenzo Raponi.
In the artistic cast, the voice of Emanuela Pascu, a talented Romanian mezzo-soprano who will perform the title role alternating with Emilia Rukavina, will stand out. Roberto Aronica will dress the part of Don José, sharing the role with Egyptian tenor Ragaa El Din, while Rocio Faus and Alessia Merepeza will alternate in the character of Micaëla and Pablo Ruiz will be Escamillo. Completing the cast will be the voices of Aoxue Zhu (Mercédès), Soraya Mencid (Frasquita), Matteo Torcaso (Moralès), Nicola Ciancio (Zuniga) and Edoardo Milletti (Remendado). The opera will be sung in the original language with surtitles in Italian.