'Carmen' is visiting Palau de la Música

It is always a good time to be moved by Carmen's music and story. Carmen is probably one of the most applauded and performed operas in the world. Palau de la Música will host two shows within a couple of weeks, one on 12 June and the other on 4 July. Orquestra Terrassa 48, conducted by Xavier Puig, will provide the melody to the opera staged in two acts directed by Laureà Plà and featuring the NovAria Choir and Ballet and the children's choir Orfeó Badaloní. Anna Tobella and Sergi Giménez will be playing leading roles Carmen and Don Jose (respectively). Olga Ponce will be in charge of the choreography.

Georges Bizet was a musical composer who combined many different styles spanning from French romanticism to Spanish folklore. The plot is set in the early 19th century in Seville and the Andalusian countryside. Carmen is one of the many gypsy women who, in those days, were forced to work in the factories to restrain their nomadic spirit and keep the population under control. While in the city, she meets Don José Lizarrabengoa, a Basque nobleman enlisted in the army fleeing from Navarra after killing a man in the conflicts between absolutists and constitutionalists. The two characters are attracted to each other despite being opposites. It turns out that bullfighter Escamillo is also in love with Carmen. The story was based on the novel with the same name by Prosper Mérimée, and the authors of the operatic libretto were Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Carmen premiered in Paris in 1875.

For more information and tickets, here.