Carmen tries to lure him into deserting the army and joining the gypsies in the mountains. The tragedy unfolds from there as the young corporal's fortunes spiral downward. Carmen turns her charms to him while Don José is in jail for letting her escape on the way to be booked after her arrest for injuring another girl in a fight in the factory. Along comes Escamillo (baritone Luis Alejandro Orozco), a famous toreador who is soon to appear in the city's arena. Carmen beguiles Don Jose with her flirtatious Habanera song (“if you love me, fine. She's the right woman for him, but Carmen's charms kill that idea.Ĭarmen is also part of a group of smugglers, as are two gypsy friends from the cigarette factory, Frasquita (soprano Alyssa Dessoye) and Mercédès (mezzo Erin Alford). We meet Micaëla, a young woman from a nearby village who has come with a message for Don José, a corporal in the guard and her childhood sweetheart. Its post is near a cigarette factory whose workers are mostly young women, including Carmen. It is hard to imagine that there is anyone in the world of opera lovers who hasn't seen Georges Bizet's final opera (he died at 36 during the initial run) and career masterpiece multiple times, but the plot is this: There is a military guard at the ramparts of Seville in the early 19th century. But, pared down for Covid safety reasons, the high-voltage singing and acting that Elise Quagliata brought to the gypsy femme fatale made the experience concentrated and intense rather than diluted. It would have been wonderful, no matter the quality of the production, just because it was able to happen. It was live opera, inside, in its regular theater, with a live audience, and it was wonderful. Carmen Pared to its Essence, Live in The Time of Covid Seen Jan.

Intermission pensacola