Carmen.

François Gremaud warned us: his trilogy would conclude with an opera, the hero would be a woman and it would not end well. Like Phèdre ! and Giselle…, the first two parts of this triptych by the Bernese director, Carmen. is a solo piece. His writing adapts the libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy and draws inspiration from the singer of the bands Moriarty and Birds on a Wire, Rosemary Standley. Rosemary, like the plant of love for the Greeks and of death for the Romans. As soon as the performance begins, the die is cast. Along with the five musicians who accompany her on the stage in Carouge, the singer gives body and voice to the feverish characters of Georges Bizet’s opera, and to her astonished audience on the evening of the premiere, a certain March 3, 1875. Here is Carmen. in all its glory.

Photo: © Prudent-Louis Leray