CARMEN

In the organizer's words:

Carmen is independent and doesn't let anyone take away her freedom. She alone decides for herself - only she! Carmen loves life. She lives entirely in the present, not in the past or the future. Carmen's love has wings: when she loves someone, it is for that very moment and not for all eternity - perhaps her interest will turn to someone else the very next moment. Carmen argues and fights, she does not shy away from the criminal milieu, because possessions or norms of any kind do not exist for her.

Carmen makes no secret of her life maxim, and she makes no pretense about what she does. In her unpredictable way, she is honest. Anyone who throws her warnings to the wind because they transfer their own (romantic, sentimental, bourgeois, moral) ideas onto her and suffer damage in the process has only themselves to blame. Watch out! Who could harm this woman? Carmen is not afraid of death.

The libretto of Georges Bizet's opera, written by the successful duo Meilhac / Halévy, is based on the novella of the same name by Prosper Mérimée, who referred to an authentic case: During one of his trips to Spain, Mérimée had visited the Basque Don José Lizzarrabengoa, who had been sentenced to death, in his cell in Córdoba and discovered his life story, which culminated in the murder of a bohemienne named Carmen.

Georges Bizet did not live to see the legendary world fame of his opera "Carmen". Three months after the premiere in March 1875 at the Opéra Comique in Paris, the successful composer succumbed to a heart condition at the age of 36. One of the early awards that the musician, who was highly regarded throughout his life, had received at the age of 18 was a prize for a one-act operetta from none other than Jacques Offenbach.