On the night of April 25, mezzo-soprano Nadhezda Stoianova captured the audience’s attention as she sang as Carmen, the lead character of the opera “Carmen”.
“Carmen” is an opera produced and directed by Ellen Kent. Kent has orchestrated opera tours since 1993. Kent has been the biggest supplier of opera and ballet in the UK.
“It took two years to produce and direct Carmen. Carmen isn’t inspiration, so much as a necessity. Carmen is really popular and it got a lot of funding. Carmen is the mainly opera. It attracts younger people because of the drama and main storyline, which includes revenge, love, despair, and seduction,” Kent said.
Carmen is about a gypsy who charms and seduces a soldier in Seville, Spain. Carmen loves to attract the attention of men, but her beauty and seduction of prominent men leads to her own murder. In the end, Carmen knew she was going to die in the near future due to the reading of her tarot cards (a famous scene that gives an eerie feeling to its audience).
“Opera is filled with drama, theatre, and film. It all started in the 30’s. Opera has everything in it. You got the music. You got the drama. You got the orchestra. You got all the mack of emotional colour of drama and music in it. It’s big. It’s dramatic. It’s large. It’s spectacular. It emulates the spectacular production that was once film, or how opera used to be,” Kent said.
Another thing that is much appreciated in Carmen is the music. The music was composed by Georges Bizet, a famous and young composer who died before he saw how successful Carmen became to be. On its first premiere, critics from all around heavily criticized Carmen. Critics despised the music, saying that Bizet made it too juvenile, dull, and obscure. The music was not dramatic. Bizet was misunderstood during his time and became depressed after the harsh critiques of Carmen. As Carmen made its way to success, Bizet suddenly died on the night of June 2. As said in an article by Charles Willeby in 1894, “Bizet died as nearly possible the exact moment when Galli-Marié (first actress to play Carmen) at the Opéra Comique was singing her song of fate in the card scene of the third act of his Carmen.”
Even though Carmen is sung in French, the opera is very easy to follow. Kent produced the opera in a way that a young child can understand with what’s happening on stage.
“I make my operas user-friendly. It’s very accessible. It’s easy to follow and understandable,” Kent said.
Kent has had many accomplishments since creating her opera company. Becoming 64 in April, it is easy to say that she has been successful in the opera business and has not let her supporters down.
“Being here 20 years later, I’ve had many accomplishments. I received so many awards and bringing people together. I’ve promoted for so many countries that it makes me feel good and accomplished. Right now, I’m touring 42 theatres, 74 shows. I just have a lot of things on my plate, but I love what I do,” Kent said.
Carmen is one of the most popular operas that Kent has produced, other than Tosca, another opera that has brought as much entertainment as Carmen. According to Kent, she always changes each show that is performed so that it can be better the next time around. This is not a technique that many producers do, for it takes more time and work.
“I change my operas all the time. Never ever do the same. How can I improve this? What can I do to give an extra spin? I never repeat things. I always look at opera in a new eye. It’s always changing, always improving.“
Opera is not a popular genre these days. Not many people enjoy watching an opera. I, for one, have never seen an opera until I saw Carmen. I enjoyed watching Carmen due to the drama, but also the colorful setting and the beautiful songs that were sung by breathtaking voices.
“Opera is a dangerous business to be in because of the recession and not many people find the appeal of watching an opera. I’ve been lucky enough to survive this long in the business and with Carmen, I can say that I might continue on for at least a few more years.”
Carmen is a must see opera. The way the story unfolds and catches your heart is an amazing thing to experience. The actors and actresses do a wonderful job in acting this amazing a difficult piece and their singing gives chills to the audience. The most amazing part of Carmen is how the singers perform without a microphone.
The casts’ voices resound through the stage and Carmen dances around her lover, Don Jose, who stares at her with loving eyes. A donkey is seen walking through town and the gypsy is singing songs about finding true love and becoming rich by marrying her true love. Little did she know that her songs would soon become songs of death.
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