Aigul Akhmetshina, a feminist and moving Carmen on the stage of the Teatro Real | Culture

Over the course of a century and a half, on stages around the world, there have been numerous attempts to eradicate the differences of class, race and gender between the two protagonists of the most famous opera in history. Georges Bizet: enter Carmen, the femme fatale gypsy girl, and José, the honorable soldier who succumbs to her charms. But also between the free and honest woman who ends up murdered by a man lacking moral strength.

The Teatro Real commemorates this anniversary with a revisionist production of the Italian Damiano Michielettowhich received a few boos on Wednesday December 10. It is a co-production created at Covent Garden in London in April 2024 and which will arrive at La Scala in Milan next June.

It should be remembered that revisionist tendencies Carmen They are going back, at least, to September 1900, of Gustav Mahler at the Vienna Opera and, more particularly, to the modern incarnation as soprano Marie Gutheil-Schoder offered by the protagonist. A Carmen who left behind the exotic clichés of seduction to embrace a much more truthful and psychological characterization of the character. This same natural acting was demonstrated at the Teatro Real by mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina in his incarnation of the protagonist, with the addition of a voice of ideal beauty and fluidity.

The young Russian singer, who already performed last season in Maria Stuarda by Donizetti at the Teatro Real in the role of Elisabettatook over the premiere from its first appearance in the famous Havana. It exhibited admirable consistency across all registers, accompanied by a seductive smoky tone that added firmness without sacrificing musicality at any point. It was then recreated with exquisite subtleties in the Séguédille with which she seduces Joseph to obtain his release. And his emotional courage made a deep impression both in the lament of the third act letters and in the opera’s shattering final duet.

The soprano Adriana Gonzalez She embodies, like Micaëla, the stage and musical counterpoint to Carmen. Beyond an unfortunate characterization, his singing expressed the passion of love in the face of the inner strength of the protagonist. The Guatemalan lyricist showed it with delicate nuances and tenderness in her first duet with José, and especially in her third act aria, which received the biggest ovation of the evening. Charles Castronovoon the other hand, proposed a José affected and lacking in character. The American tenor showed some lyrical flashes, but dragged a vibrato growing and unstable which prevented him from standing out in the famous flower aria, although he safely reached the high B flat, although he renounced the rise to pianissimo.

The baritone Lucas Meachem He also failed to stand out like Escamillo. The American found himself overwhelmed in his famous couplets of the second act, lacking projection, charm and color, although later it offered greater solidity in the third act. All the secondary characters were very successful: both the lively Frasquita from Nathalie Labordette like the complacent Mercedes of mezzo Marie-Claude Chappuis, as well as the dedicated interpretation of baritone Lluís Calvet in the role of Dancaïre and the tenor Mikeldi Atxalandabaso as patched. The four shone in the quintet with Carmen from the second act. For his part, bass David Lagares provided the necessary vocal darkness in the role of Zúñiga, and baritone Toni Marsol opened the opera solvably as Moralès.

The Main Choir of the Teatro Real deserves a special mention for the intensity of its stage work and for the musical solvency and clear textual articulation in all its interventions. The Little Singers of the ORCAM also stood out, even if the Principal Orchestra of the Teatro Real did not reach the level of the other premieres, with some errors and problems of balance and filling in a first prelude started with excessive haste.

Korean director Eun Sun Kim, current owner of the San Francisco Opera, returned to the pit of the Teatro Real, where she began her career in 2010. Her direction maintained the typically American standard: as competent as it was loud, but also excessively superficial. The three interludes are good proof of this, also weighed down by the insistent stage decision to place several children with signs in front of the curtain.

Before concluding on the problematic staging, it is appropriate to add a brief comment on the version of Bizet’s score chosen for this production. Although the portable program mistakenly announced the 1874 version in Paul Prévost’s edition…the same one that René Jacobs made here in 2024, without the famous habanera—, what was really used was an indigestible cover from the Choudens edition, with cuts and minimal spoken dialogue, but also with a few recitative passages composed by Guiraud. It is regrettable not to have had the excellent Prévost edition of the Bärenreitera true model in the presentation of the initial versions of the opera until its creation in 1875.

The stage proposal by Damiano Michieletto, delegated to Madrid by Eleonora Gravagnola, opts for a feminist reading of Bizet’s opera and against sexist violence; reasonable advice when not absurdities like those of Leo Muscato in Florence. The two protagonists push their differences to the extreme in the costumes designed by Carla Teti, even if Micaëla’s humility is reduced to a caricature. Much more effective is the characterization of the male characters in a veristic aesthetic set in the 1970s, in a southern city with a tropical feel.

Paolo Fantin once again opts for a realistic and circular scenography. The dizzying result is more uncomfortable than it brings in its effort to show all the nooks and crannies of the police station, of the brothel which replaces the Lillas Pastia tavern or of this environment of smugglers which evokes the famous production of Calixto Bieito. For the rest, Alessandro Carletti’s lighting creates atmosphere, but hinders dramatic moments like the final murder.

The most serious problems appear, as happened with Madame Papillon in 2024towards the actors. There is no chemistry between the singers and dramatic development is conspicuous by its absence in the protagonists, no matter how much time between acts is indicated. The most notable decision is to make José’s mother appear as a ghost, even though she is alive in the first three acts. This is already seen in the fate passage of the prelude and in the most difficult moments of the protagonist. During the press conference, Michieletto explained via video conference that he was the true opposite of Carmen and that his widow’s outfit was inspired by Bernarda Alba’s house of Lorca. However, on a theatrical level, this becomes a superfluous effect.