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Generational performance

Carmen

Georges Bizet (1838 – 1875)

01
Sunday
September
17:00 - 20:00
B prices: € 92.00 / 72.00 / 52.00 / 32.00 / 24.00
Information about the work

Opéra comique in four acts by Georges Bizet
Libretto by Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy,
based on a novella by Prosper Mérimée
First performed on 3rd March 1875, in Paris
Premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 20th January 2018

3 hrs / 1 interval

In French with German and English surtitles

Pre-performance lecture (in German): 45 minutes prior to each performance

recommended from 14 years
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Cast
Our thanks to our partners

Kindly supported by Förderkreis der Deutschen Oper Berlin e. V. The children's chorus is sponsored by Dobolino e.V.

01
Sunday
September
17:00 - 20:00
B prices: € 92.00 / 72.00 / 52.00 / 32.00 / 24.00
Cast
the content

About the work
Georges Bizet’s titular heroine is as captivating a character as any in the history of opera. The different interpretations of Carmen are legion: we have the seductress, the personification of forbidden yearning, the standard bearer for the “eternally female” in the brutal battle of the sexes, the anarchist unfettered by bourgeois angst and compulsions, the archaic clairvoyante seeing her own death in the cards - yet free, as she does not dread her destiny. Few opera heroines are so open to interpretation and hence so able to serve as a mirror held up to society.

With CARMEN Bizet was throwing down the gauntlet to Romantic opera. His naturalistic presentation of a proletarian milieu with its poverty and crime was a direct challenge to the conventions of opera. It is a setting in which Don José’s dreams are doomed to be dashed. His fixation on Carmen sucks him into a pit of wretchedness and felony and he persistently rejects his chance to lead a steady, secure life with Micaëla the peasant girl.

This clash of principles – feminine versus masculine; bourgeoisie versus anarchy – is illustrated by the bullfighting scene, which is much more than a colourful bit of folklore used as a backdrop to the storyline; it is a gory ritual involving the survival of the fittest, where no quarter is given.


About the production
In his version Norwegian director Ole Anders Tandberg has embraced the unique blend of great opera, working-class tragedy and overstoked operetta. He packs his triumphant ramped-up production with emotional realism, bloody corrida symbolism and grotesque, Tarantino-esque scenes of absurd cruelty. And the iconic character of the work is playfully reflected in the opulent Andalusian garb of Carmen and Escamillo.

Tandberg is interested in the eponymous heroine’s openness and the mystery surrounding her. He sees in her not just the seer, the anarchist or the focus of male gaze but also a person playing these different roles for fear of emotional injury, a woman who is led by Don José’s true love to glimpse, at least for isolated moments, behind the façade of her own Carmen poses.

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07
DEC

Adventsverlosung: Das 7. Fensterchen

Today we are giving away an unforgettable family Christmas classic: Engelbert Humperdinck's HÄNSEL UND GRETEL on 26 December 2024 at 2:00 p.m. for four people. If you would like to take part in the draw for four tickets, please send an e-mail to advent@deutscheoperberlin.de today with the subject line ‘The 7th window’.

Although HÄNSEL UND GRETEL is actually set in spring – it's strawberry season –, this opera is a Christmas classic for young and old alike. And so Humperdinck's ‘children's Christmas pageant’ is once again scheduled this December in Andreas Homoki's imaginative production: are they naughty or just playful, the two children Hansel and Gretel? In any case, the broom they are supposed to bind breaks, the stocking that is already half-knitted dissolves into squiggly yarn. And then the milk pot falls to the floor. So the mother sends the two children into the forest to collect strawberries. Unexpectedly, they escape the confines and poverty of the broom-maker's house and find themselves in an enchanted forest that transforms everything instantly: their clothes are suddenly much more colourful, birds sing sweetly in the iridescent light, strawberries and flowers grow in abundance, lovable clowns rock them to gentle dreams... If only the witch weren't there.

For over 100 years, Humperdinck's HÄNSEL UND GRETEL has been one of the most popular operas for the whole family. Andreas Homoki tells the story in a child-friendly and straightforward way. Together with his set and costume designer Wolfgang Gussmann, he counteracts the opulence of the music with a lightness and poetic imagery that reaches its magical climax in the night scenes in the forest.



Closing date: 7 December 2024. The winners will be informed by email on 9 December 2024. The tickets will be sent to you as Ticketdirect. No right of appeal to the courts.