Georges Bizet: Carmen - Opera in Four Acts

Carmen is a myth - something that never was, yet always is. The freedom-loving Carmen appears here as the demonic, exotic seductress of a man who starts out self-assured. The love between them ultimately becomes a merciless struggle between life and death: absolute loyalty or absolute freedom?

When soldier Don José gambles away his modest career, his planned marriage to Micaëla, and his orderly social life - sliding into petty crime and eventually becoming a murderer - Prosper Mérimée, the author of the original story, has the perpetrator look back on the eve of his execution and explain it all through Carmen's mythical spell.

For the opera, Bizet shifts the perspective entirely: he strips away all moralizing, justification, and accusation, and tells the story - with tremendous musical-dramatic force - from the female protagonist's point of view. Carmen becomes a ruthless spectacle driven by music.

In this production, students are responsible not only for the sets, costumes, and make-up, and not only for playing in the orchestra and singing in the chorus - they also take on all the solo roles and develop new dialogue scenes to shed fresh light on the myth. The result is an original version of Carmen that sets the 19th-century image of the character against today's gender dynamics.