Most recent performance

There are currently no scheduled performances of Carmen. It was last on stage 19 October—30 November 2015 as part of the Autumn 2015/16 season.

The Story

Background

Carmen is the most popular work from French composer Georges Bizet. For this, his 17th and last opera, Bizet took inspiration from the popular novella by Prosper Mérimée, which had enticed French readers with exotic tales of Spain. Its heady combination of passion, sensuality and violence initially proved too much for the stage and the opera was a critical failure on its premiere in 1875. Bizet died shortly after, and never learned of the spectacular success Carmen would achieve. Popular around the world, the opera has been performed more than five hundred times at Covent Garden alone.

The opera contains many much-loved numbers, such as Carmen’s seductive Habanera and Escamillo’s rousing Toreador Song, in which he celebrates the thrill of the bullfight. In Francesca Zambello’s 2006 production for The Royal Opera, richly coloured designs by Tanya McCallin capture the sultry heat of the Spanish sun, while ranks of soldiers, crowds of peasants, gypsies and bullfighters bring 19th-century Seville to life.

News and features

• From Moscow to Peking via Nuremburg: how opera uses folk music

  15 March 2017

  

  From traditional Japanese folk music to mysterious Spanish popular songs, opera has long been drawing on national music to explore 'exotic' cultures and celebrate national traditions.

• 10 of opera's greatest bass-baritone roles

  30 January 2017

  

  From devils and rogues, to lovers and rulers – who says tenors have to have all the fun?

• 10 of opera's greatest mezzo-soprano roles

  19 December 2016

  

  Carmen isn’t the only sensual starring mezzo role – we round up some of our favourites, from Donizetti to Birtwistle.

• Verdi and the rise of the mezzo-soprano

  13 June 2016

  

  With distinctive warm tones and a wide vocal range, Verdi realized the mezzo's potential - with exciting consequences.

• Holding up a mirror: How opera composers reflect community and society

  19 November 2015

  

  Composers have long experimented with different ways of giving a sense of community, often using the chorus to highly dramatic effect.

• Cast change: Andrea Carè to sing in Carmen on 14 and 16 November 2015

  11 November 2015

  

  Italian tenor to replace Jonas Kaufmann due to illness.