SIX local children are to sing in Carmen Opera with Russian State Opera

The highly acclaimed Russian State Opera returns with a mix of fierce passion and gorgeous melodies

Carmen – the most powerful and enjoyable opera
Music by Georges Bizet
Sung in French with English Surtitles
Featuring an impressive cast and accompanied by a large live Orchestra with over 30 musicians

Producer, Alexej Ignatow says: Our long-term project is to try hard to involve more local choirs, and to integrate them in our future productions. We are delighted to offer the opportunity to six local children to sing in Harlow. A number of the children have previously sung with the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, the National Youth Choir, Chapel Royal and in the West End. Six local children are to take part: Benedict Cuthill, Salvador Glasgow, Sammie Stokes, Jamie Somerville, Petra Todd, Molly Williams.

Feel the thrill and passion of love, jealousy and violence of 19th Century Seville in one of Bizet’s most popular pieces.
Its mix of fierce passion, gorgeous melodies, nail-biting dramatic confrontations and musical wit has found favour all over the world almost since its first performance in 1875.

It tells the story of the downfall of Don José, a naïve soldier who is seduced by Carmen, free-spirited femme fatale. José abandons his childhood sweetheart and deserts from his military duties, yet loses Carmen’s love to the glamorous toreador Escamillo.

The music of Carmen has been widely acclaimed for its brilliance of melody, harmony, atmosphere and orchestration, and for the skill with which Bizet represented, musically, the emotions and suffering of his characters.

The ‘Toreador Song’ is among the best known of all operatic arias.

The rich and colourful vigour of the gypsies’ scenes will have you on the edge of your seat, and the vibrancy, enthusiasm and intensity of the performance will reverberate long after the final curtain.

If you’ve never tried opera before, you will love this full orchestra experience with fantastic colourful costumes, exquisite singing and those wonderful tunes that the audience will still be humming to themselves on their way home, making this a must see opera production for everyone.

Love, treachery, passion and betrayal, Carmen has it all!

Opera performances of Carmen in Essex:

Fri: 9 Sept
Harlow, Playhouse
01279 431 945