Throughout the season

Carmen

Historical staging from 1875.

Opéra-comique in four acts by Georges Bizet, on a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy after Prosper Mérimée, premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.
The version with recitatives composed by Ernest Guiraud premiered in Vienna on 23 October 1875.
Opera
© Marion Kerno
Following the rediscovery of the first version of Gounod’s Faust (2018) and the original version of Offenbach’s La Vie parisienne (2021), the Palazzetto Bru Zane and its partners present a restoration – this time in visual terms – of another great French Romantic opera: Bizet’s Carmen, with the costumes, sets and staging of the 1875 premiere. Combining vivid tableaux and a first-rate cast, this revival of the famous opera with its original mise-en-scène is presented for the third season.

“It is not that what is commonly called ‘melody’ is lacking; indeed, it abounds; but it does not reveal itself, in all its nudity, to the first person who comes along; and often its charms and harmonious lines have to be discovered beneath the rich fabric with which the composer adorns it.”
(Armand Gouzien, L'Événement, 6 March 1875.)

Dates

17, 19, 22, 25 and 26 October 2025
The Dallas Opera, Dallas CAST
From 30 April to 4th June 2026
Greek National Opera, Stavros Niarchos Hall SNFCC, Athens CAST
Staged version
Co-production Opéra Royal – Château de Versailles Spectacles / Opéra Orchestre Normandie Rouen / Bru Zane France / Palazzetto Bru Zane
Executive producer Bru Zane France
Score published by Choudens (revised by the Palazzetto Bru Zane)
Bru Zane Mediabase
Digital resources for French Romantic music
The website hosts articles on people, works and topics authored by musicologists and historians collaborating with Palazzetto Bru Zane.