La Scala - Carmen (Live)
Every year, on December 7th, La Scala officially inaugurates its Opera Season with an opening night regarded as one of European society’s most important cultural events. This year, audiences in cinemas throughout the World will be able to experience this event live.
Young Georges Bizet, who died soon after the first run of Carmen, never enjoyed the success and fame of his creation. Carmen wasn’t initially well received, but became and still is one of the most famous and most popular work in the opera repertoire.
For this production, La Scala has gathered the new generation of opera stars, including the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann, the Uruguayan baritone Erwin Schrott, the Italian soprano Adriana Damato, and newest revelation Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili, who won the Leyla Gencer Voice Competition last year.
'Carmen' is the story of fatal attraction between Carmen, the hot-blooded gypsy, and Don José, the upstanding corporal in the Spanish army who’s already engaged to another woman. Don José begins to fall for Carmen as she sings the famous song of seduction, the Habañera. When he helps her avoid arrest, he is thrown in prison. Upon his release, he seeks her out; as a result, his life continues to unravel. Upon hearing his mother is dying, he heads home, vowing to Carmen that they will be together again soon. When he returns, he discovers Carmen in a rapturous affair with Escamillo, a dashing toreador. Don José, now bitter and angry, stabs her to death just as Escamillo wins the fight in the bullring. As the spectators leave the arena, Don José throws himself on her dead body and confesses his guilt.
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