Bizet: Carmen (DVD) – Jonas Kaufmann, Vesselina Kasarova
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Item: 10060536
Description
Bizet: Carmen (DVD) – Jonas Kaufmann, Vesselina Kasarova
Composer: Georges Bizet
Artists: Jonas Kaufmann, Vesselina Kasarova, Isabel Rey, Michele Pertusi, Morgan Moody, Krešimir Stražanac, Sen Guo, Judith Schmid, Choruses of the Opernhaus Zürich, Orchester der Oper Zürich
Conductor: Franz Welser-Möst
Director: Matthias Hartmann
Format: NTSC
Language: French
Subtitles: French, English, German
Region: All Regions
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Decca
DVD Release Date: October 27, 2014
Run Time: 166 minutes
In 2008 the Opernhaus Zürich staged this magnificent production starring virtuoso tenor Jonas Kaufmann as Don José and the Bulgarian Vesselina Kasarova in the title role.
Mezzo-soprano Kasarova is dazzling as the tough-as-nails, beautifully unsentimental heroine. Kaufmann brilliantly portrays the blustering but naive Don José as a modern contrast of hard-edged machismo and out-of-his-depth vulnerability.
Director Matthias Hartmann refreshes one of the greatest and most popular operas of all time with touches of a contemporary setting and costume designs that emphasize the timeless archetypes of the characters, and Franz Welser-Möst conducts Bizet’s score with chiselled detail.
This production enthralled audiences with the visceral physical quality of the performances, enhanced by a single panoramic set for all four acts that is stripped of the traditional Spanish styling.
History
Carmen
World premiere: 1887.
Georges Bizet’s original Carmen, takes place in and around Seville, Spain and tells of the downfall of a soldier, Don José, seduced by the wiles of the fiery Carmen. José abandons his sweetheart and his military duties for Carmen, yet loses her love to the glamorous matador Escamillo, after which José kills her in a jealous rage.
On January 9, 1884, Carmen premiered at the Metropolitan Opera. Thereafter it was quickly incorporated into the Met's regular repertory staging Carmen well-over a thousand times. The Met Opera’s 2023-2024 Season debuts a vital new production of Carmen, reinvigorating the classic story with a staging that moves the action to the modern day and finds at the heart of the drama issues that could not be more relevant today: gendered violence, abusive labor structures, and the desire to break through societal boundaries.
Among the best-known of all operatic arias are Carmen’s “Habanera” from Act 1, sung by the title character and the toreador’s song, “Votre toast” in Act 2, performed by the matador Escamillo.
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