TELEVISION: GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET: CARMEN

By Culturekiosque Staff

NEW YORK, 13 MAY 2010 — British theater and film diretor Richard Eyre explores the passionate drama of Bizet’s Carmen and the power of her desires in his new production at the Metropolitan Opera, which premieres on Thirteen's Great Performances at the Met series. "Her sexuality is a life force, it’s a defining force," he explains. "Carmen is about sex, violence, and racism — and its corollary: freedom."

As for her portrayal of the free spirited gypsy, Elīna Garanča says, "You don’t get to develop productions of Carmen from scratch too often. Carmen is defined by her unwillingness to settle. She is constantly searching and never satisfied. It may be sex or, more broadly, approval by men. It could also just be a zest for life, and in that she is uncompromising." Under the baton of Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Garanča is joined by Roberto Alagna as the obsessed soldier Don José, Barbara Frittoli as his devoted girlfriend Micaëla, and Teddy Tahu Rhodes as the toreador Escamillo.

Hosted by the American soprano Renée Fleming, Carmen airs on Great Performances at the Met in primetime on Thirteen Thursday,13 May at 9 p.m. and on PBS stations around the United States on Sunday 16 May at noon (check local listings).

PBS Television Website

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