Bizet: Carmen

Bizet’s passionate tale of the self-willed gypsy woman Carmen is certainly one of the most popular works in the history of opera. It shows how a cigar factory worker in Seville enchants and bewitches the men around her. Melodies like Carmen’s legendary “Habanera”or Escamillo’s “Toreador March” are well known tunes all over the world.
The Opéra Comique in Paris commissioned George Bizet to write Carmen in 1872 and Bizet’s music portrays the characters with care and reveals itself to both the most naïve and the most sophisticated listener.
The wild-romantic Roman quarry of St. Margarethen provided the perfect backdrop for this live recording of one of the key works of the so-called ‘Hispanismo’-style.
The DVD captures a summer’s evening in 2005 when thousands of spectators gathered at one of Europe’s most important open-air festivals, visited by 220.000 opera lovers annually.
This exciting production, which brought horses, pyrotechnical special effects and more than 400 participants onto the stage, was filmed using brand new video and audio recording technology.