Georges Bizet (1838–1875) wrote his exotic opera about the alluring and fearless Carmen between 1873 and 1874. Based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, the libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. In creating the music for the opera, which tells of the pitfalls of toying with hearts and ends in tragedy, Bizet took as his model the melodies of Spain, where Carmen herself comes from. He shaped the characters and their psychological backgrounds with enormous skill. The music, infused with gypsy melodies, is refined down to the last detail. Bizet also played with the conventions of the genre and gave the work an unmatched and unsurpassable expressiveness. Famed Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča appears in the role of the hot-blooded Carmen in this concert performance of Bizet’s most important opera. Although she has sung many roles, further consolidating her reputation with each new part she tackles, she is most famous for her interpretation of Carmen, with The New York Times even calling her “the best Carmen of all time”. The mezzo-soprano and other excellent singers will be accompanied by the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra under the distinguished British conductor Karel Mark Chichon, whom Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of his services to music.
