Vancouver Opera Presents Carmen at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre
byVancouver Opera presents George Bizet’s beloved opera Carmen to close out its 2023-2024 season at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Audiences will have five opportunities to see this production of Carmen, one of the most widely performed works in operatic history.
Carmen at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre
- Date:
- April 27, May 2 and May 4, 2024 at 7:30pm
- April 28 and May 5, 2024 at 2:00pm
- Location: Queen Elizabeth Theatre (630 Hamilton St, Vancouver)
- Tickets: Tickets can be purchased through the Vancouver Opera box office online or by calling (604) 683-0222
Rachel Peake returns to Vancouver Opera to direct Carmen at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre alongside conductor Leslie Dala for five-shows of richly coloured melodies and rhythmic vibrancy.
Animated by an all-star cast and audacious stagecraft, the conflicting worlds and failed romance of the rebellious Carmen and the possessive military man Don José burst off the stage. From the stirring Toreador Song to the tauntingly seductive aria Habanera, Bizet’s music cuts a compelling path through a story that intertwines the political and the personal. Carmen is sung in French with English surtitles projected above the stage.
Portraying the romantic title character are mezzo-sopranos Sarah Mesko (April 27, May 2 & 4) and Carolyn Sproule (April 28 & May 5). The fiery Don Jose is performed by Alok Kumar (April 27, May 2 & 4) and Matthew White (April 28 & May 5). Appearing in all five performances are soprano Jonelle Sills as Micaela, Nathan Keoughan as Escamillo, Alain Coulombe as Zuniga, and Luka Kawabata as Le Dancaire. Joining them are Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artists Jeremy Scinocca as Le Remendado, Simran Claire as Mercedes, Heidi Duncan as Frasquita and Danlie Rae Acebuque as Morales.
This lush, grand-scale production updates the original setting from late-1800s southern Spain to an unnamed, pan-Latin city in the mid-1950s, where mounting political tensions and romantic desires match the scorching midsummer temperatures. Eye-catching but peeling billboards, bustling town squares and dive cafés, and costumes that range from proletariat denim to opulent bullfighting regalia give a vivid but distressed texture to this timeless tale of class division and teeming emotion.
