Event Description
Duration: Approximately 2 hours and 50 minutes including an interval
Content advice: This production contains adult themes, including sexual references and violence against women.
Performed in French with English subtitles
Smuggler, seductress, risk-taker, rebel.
Who is this woman that turns every head?
When Carmen meets Don José, sparks fly. She won’t give up her freedom, and Don José won’t give up his girl. Their smouldering passion sets the stage for tragedy, but first, Bizet gives us an adrenaline-pumping ride through lust, jealousy and spectacle.
This visceral opera is thrilling from the moment the curtain rises and the orchestra races away with the overture. The music has it all: explosions of colour, tender love songs, sensual dances, massive choruses, and always, underneath, the beating pulse of danger.
One of Australia’s great theatre directors, Melbourne Theatre Company’s Anne-Louise Sarks offers a bold new production of the opera classic, leaning into the revolutionary heart of Bizet’s once groundbreaking opera. This is a Carmen for our time, asking urgent questions about opera’s iconic femme fatale, whose dance with destiny ends in disaster.
Australian opera sensation Danielle de Niese and Sian Sharp share the iconic title role, alongside Diego Torre and American tenor Evan LeRoy Johnson as Don José.
Composer: Georges Bizet
Conductor: Clelia Cafiero
Director: Anne-Louise Sarks
Cast includes: Danielle de Niese, Sian Sharp, Abraham Breton, Diego Torre, Phillip Shodes, Luke Gabbedy and Jennifer Black
