Name: Carmen
Start: 2022-02-16
End: 2022-02-16
Location: National Opera of Ukraine

Organization

Directors Assistant

Valentina Reka

Conductor

Vladimir Kozhukhar

Stage director

Mykola Kuznetsov

Set designer

Andrey Zlobin

Costume designer

Anna Ignatieva

Chorus master

Lev Venedyktov

Choreographer

Viktor Yaremenko

Alla Kulbaba

Anatoliy Semenchuk

Alexander Tarasenko

Viktoria Savenko

Singer

Mezzo-soprano

Angelina Seamstress

Carmen

Tetiana Piminova

Irina Petrova

Tenor

Andriy Romanenko

Don José

Sergey Pashuk

Sergii Skochelyas

Baritone

Gennadiy Vashchenko

Escamillo

Alexander Melnichuk

Viacheslav Bazyr

Igor Yevdokimenko

Alexander Boyko

Dancaire

Ruslan Tanskyi

Remendado

Bass

Bogdan Taras

Zuniga

Dmytro Ageiev

Andriy Maslakov

Mykhailo Kirishev

Morales

Yuriy Goryn

Soprano

Olga Nagorna

Michaela

Lilia Gretsova

Ksenia Bakhritdinova

GANINA Tatiana

Svitlana Godlevska

Frasquita

Olga Fomichova

Olga Matushenko

Mercedes

Tetiana Kharauzova

National Opera of Ukraine

Others

Boys' choir of the municipal academic male choral chapel

French

Kyiv

Ukraine

Main Stage

Carmen Bizet

Public

Approved

Georges Bizet is a great realist artist, whose work is a significant layer of world culture. His cheerful and temperamental music is marked by unique authorial originality, melodic richness, dramatic expressiveness.

The composer was born in Paris on October 25, 1838 in the family of a singing teacher. The boy's exceptional musical abilities were revealed early: at the age of four he already knew the notes, and at the age of nine he entered the Paris Conservatory.

Phenomenal hearing, excellent musical memory, brilliant performing and composing abilities of the young man aroused admiration. While still a student, he gained recognition as a pianist, counterpoint player and organist. 1854 - 1857 - a period of endless triumphs of Georges Bizet. He has repeatedly won awards at conservative competitions, he won the Roman Prize of the second degree, which allowed him to focus on creativity. The 19-year-old took part in a one-act operetta competition announced by Jacques Offenbach and won. Bizet soon received the Grand Prix of Rome, which gave him the right to study for two years in Italy and one year in Germany. Although the young musician recognizes the genius of his contemporary G. Verdi, he chooses the work of Mozart as a model. The young J. Bizet is working on a one-act musical play "Guzla Emir" and an orchestral scherzo, which premiered on January 11, 1863. Destructive criticism lowered the composer from heaven to earth and made it clear that cloudless youth is over and talent must be defended with works that would testify to their own handwriting, uniqueness and originality.

Georges Bizet's true vocation was musical theater. The 25-year-old composer made his public debut with the opera Pearl Seekers (1863). And again the usual accusations rang out - "Wagner's epigon", "smart follower". The composer was painfully aware of the attacks of music criticism and asked himself: is he really following a well-trodden artistic path?

In these difficult, doubtful times, Charles Gounod wrote him a wonderful letter: "Go your own way, my son. This is the only way to find complete loneliness today, to achieve tomorrow what every artist dreams of: the whole world is crowded around you! "

Despite the success of the public and the division of criticism in the evaluation of the opera into two camps, Bizet is actively working on new works. He began work on the opera "Ivan the Terrible". But realizing that the work will feel the style of Verdi, destroys the manuscript.

On December 28, 1867, another premiere of Bizet's opera took place. "Perth Beauty" was staged at the "Lyrics Theater". One of the most famous musicians of that era, French composer and music critic Ernest Reyer, said of Bizet's work: "After Pearl Seekers, Perth Beauty is a step back rather than progress. … "

Bizet has not yet crossed the 30-year mark, and he has a long way to go, half-successes, half-glories, half-beginnings, fragments of several operas, choirs, symphonies, overtures, piano pieces, songs postponed due to lack of creative mood. The composer was acutely aware that the path to which Guno had adjusted him in his letter had not yet been found.

A tangible impetus to the composer's creative rise was a happy family life, love for the daughter of the world-famous composer Gale - Genevieve, who became his wife. However, soon the happy days were overshadowed by the Franco-Prussian War (1870 - 1871). As a true European and a French patriot, he was deeply impressed by this conflict between the two great nations, the Central European powers.

In 1872, Bizet's opera Jamile, based on a text by Louis Hallevi, was performed in Paris. The work was greeted coldly, and after the fifth performance it was removed from the repertoire. But Ernest Reyer, who until recently sharply criticized the works of J. Bizet, is now enthusiastic about the significant step forward made by the composer after the premiere of "Perth Beauty". "We are much more interested in an author who moves forward, even if he stumbles, than one who walks confidently, unmistakably, elegantly, but backwards."

The opera "Jamile" marked the composer's creative growth. J. Bizet feels that he has finally found his own creative style. He gladly agreed to the proposal of the director of the Teatro de Vaudeville Carvalho to write music for Alfonso Dode's drama "Arlesian", which still sounds today.

On March 3, 1873, the French public first became acquainted with one of the most outstanding musical and stage works of the nineteenth century - the opera by Georges Bizet "Carmen".

The libretto and music found a lot of both fans and opponents. Connoisseurs, accustomed to the "refined manners" in the melodies and instrumentation of the Paris Opera, shuddered when they heard almost to the brutality energetic, full of lively energy of genuine feelings, rhythms and melodies. Failure? You can't say that, because the opera has been performed thirty times, and some melodies have started to conquer not only music connoisseurs, but also the street. Meanwhile, professionals were still arguing about the longevity of "Carmen". French critics and audiences were somewhat shocked by the opera's "square" plot, the appearance on stage of everyday events in which the lower classes took part. J. Bizet was deeply impressed by the strange reception of the opera. He was well aware that he had created a masterpiece, and "Carmen" begins a new chapter in the history of opera. It was an opera about a man. A man who loves, hates, kisses and, when bad luck pushes him to do so, kills him!

The plot of "Carmen" is borrowed from the novel of the same name by French writer Prosper Merimee. However, in the opera the content of the short story is significantly reworked. Experienced writers A. Melyak and L. Galevi, skillfully developing the structure of the libretto, saturated it with drama, deepened emotional contrasts and created clear images of actors, which are significantly different from literary prototypes. Jose, portrayed by the writer as a gloomy, proud and stern robber, in the opera appeared completely different. In the past, a peasant boy, then a dragoon, shown in the opera as a simple, honest, somewhat weak-willed man. Love for Carmen dramatically changes his destiny. Torn from ordinary living conditions, unable to resist passion, Jose dies. Barely outlined in the novel willful, courageous bullfighter Escamillo gets a bright and juicy musical characteristics. Deeper in comparison with the literary source, the image of Jose's bride Mikaela, a gentle and affectionate girl, is revealed. Her character contrasts with the unrestrained, passionate nature of the gypsy Carmen. The image of the main character has also changed significantly. It is the personification of female beauty and charm, passionate love of freedom and courage. Cunning, thieving business - the features of Carmen, which dominated the novel by P. Merimee, are almost absent in the opera. J. Bizet added nobility to the character of the main character, the directness of her feelings and independence of actions. Finally, pushing the boundaries of the story, the author of the opera put into action colorful folk scenes. The life of a temperamental, colorful crowd under the scorching sun of the south, romantic figures of gypsies and smugglers, tense atmosphere of bullfighting with special sharpness and brightness overshadow the strong, original characters of Carmen, Jose, Micaela and Escamillo, the drama of their fate. It was these mass scenes that gave an optimistic sound to the tragic plot of the opera.

Georges Bizet was overwhelmed by the cool reception of his opera by the Parisian audience, which testified to a misunderstanding, but rather a rejection of the composer's new, as yet unknown musical style. He left Paris. Together with his wife, trying to find mental balance and rest, he goes to Buzhival.

For the most part, talent is recognized only after a person's death. So it happened with J. Bizet. On June 3, 1875, the composer left the world without acknowledging his talent. He was only 37 years old.

PI Tchaikovsky was one of the first of Bizet's great contemporaries to appreciate the music of Carmen. "Bizet's opera," he wrote, "is a masterpiece, one of the few things destined to most fully reflect the musical aspirations of an entire era. In ten years, Carmen will become the most popular opera in the world."

These words turned out to be prophetic. If in 1876 "Carmen" disappeared from the repertoire of Parisian theaters for a long time, then abroad - in Vienna (1875), St. Petersburg (1878) and many other European cities, its success was truly triumphant. A beautiful monument of spiritual culture of the French people - the opera "Carmen" continues to conquer the minds and hearts of millions of fans of music and performing arts.

English

Carmen by Bizet, Wed 16 Feb 2022, From (2022/2022), Directed by Mykola Kuznetsov,, Conductor Vladimir Kozhukhar, Alla Kulbaba, National Opera of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues