Carmen by Bizet, Dum 28 Mai 2017, De la (2016/2017), Regizat de către Beata Redo-Dobber, Dirijor Grzegorz Berniak, Europejskie Centrum Sztuki - Opera i Filharmonia Podlaska, Bialystok, Poland

Carmen is a liberated woman: she values her independence and is ready to follow her feelings, irrespective of the cost. She bravely faces the challenges of fate, which—like in a Greek tragedy—eventually brings her death. Although this may be hard to believe, the opera’s premiere was a complete and utter flop. Contemporary audiences could not stomach a work that contradicted the socially approved norms. With time, though, what turned the play’s opening night into a failure 140 years ago, became the source of its lasting popularity. Georges Bizet successfully transformed the opera scene of his time. His “Carmen” was a story of passion: a testimony of the human struggle with the timeless experience of love. Bizet introduced lifelike, contemporary people onto the stage and turned the title protagonist into a lasting, cultural symbol of female strength. Yet it is the music, full of Spanish exoticism and gypsy sparkle, that remains the greatest strength of “Carmen.”