This summer, visitors, tourists, and opera-lovers in Israel are in for a real treat – free admission to the complete production of Carmen by Georges Bizet, one of the most popular operas of all time. The Opera will be staged under the open skies of the Ganei Yehoshua Park in Tel Aviv on August 18, 2022, thanks to a collaboration between the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality and the Israeli Opera.
Tel Aviv, Israel: The production will include more than 250 participants on an enormous stage – soloists, an opera choir, musicians, dancers, actors, and a children’s choir. The Opera will be conducted by Dan Ettinger, music director of the Israeli Opera, directed by Gadi Shechter, who has directed other productions in the park and accompanied by the opera orchestra – the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion and the Israeli Opera Choir.
Naama Goldman and Ella Vasilevichky, two of Israel’s most prominent opera stars will perform the role of Michaela. Goldman served the role of Carmen for the first time in Masada at the Israel Opera Festival and has been performing it with great success worldwide ever since.
Carmen by Georges Bizet, which premiered on March 3, 1875, at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, was a resounding failure in the eyes of audiences and critics. The burning loss struck the depths of his heart, and exactly three months later, he died. The greatest compliment given to this Opera came from the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who said: “Music is wicked, refined and fantastic and at the same time extremely popular.”
The opera “Carmen” is based on a novel by Prosper Mérimée and tells a story of love and passion, in which the soldier Don José was tempted to let Carmen, the free gypsy, escape from imprisonment. After Jose finishes serving his prison sentence, which he received because of helping Carmen, he joins her and her fellow gypsies and smugglers. When Carmen falls in love with bullfighter Escamio and is fed up with José, he is struck by a burst of jealousy. Carmen prefers to remain free and even die than to live with a man she does not love, and Don José’s jealousy causes him to murder her.
