The Mikhailovsky Theater showed “Carmen” with a new character – Death

Famous choreographer Nacho Duato staged his first opera

The Mikhailovsky Theater opened the season with the premiere of a new production of the opera Carmen. Choreographer Nacho Duato performed in an unusual role for himself as an opera director.

A few years ago, Duato claimed that he was not interested in Spanish stories: there were too many clichés in them that would have to be overcome – fans, mantillas, flowers in hair, bullfights and dancing in the streets for any reason. But last year he yielded to the pressure of artistic director Vladimir Kekhman and created at Mikhailovsky his version of “Don Quixote” – “Hidalgo from La Mancha”, and this year he came to “Carmen”. And the first opera in his life breaks all stereotypes about what stage Spain should be like.

His Seville is not like what the Russian public has seen so far, just like his Carmen is not like other opera gypsies. Duato not only removed all the bright colors, but also “erased” the cliched, deliberate sexuality: the gypsy appears barefoot, in a simple white dress and seduces against her will with a turn of her head, a wave of her hand, and her voice. She sings her famous habanera not to seduce men, but to warn women: “Love is like a bird’s wings, you can’t catch it in any way!” Freedom shines through in her movements and gestures – the choreographer, having practically abandoned dancing in the opera, paid special attention to the plasticity of the artists.

Mariinsky Theater soloist Irina Shishkova, who performed the role of Carmen at the premiere performance, is not a random guest on the Mikhailovsky stage. Elena Obraztsova, the great Carmen herself, approved her for this role, but then the premiere was cancelled. Now, fifteen years later, Irina had the opportunity to create this striking image. Her Carmen is simple and natural, and Shishkova’s voluminous, stunningly beautiful voice seems to know no barriers.

The tenor of the Mikhailovsky Theater Sergei Kuzmin matched her, demonstrating all the richness of his timbre. His aria with a flower with the most delicate pianissimo in the finale became one of the most memorable moments of the performance. All the more striking and frightening was Jose’s transformation from a timid lover into a frantic jealous person. But Duato, as always, is precise in the details, and an attentive viewer will notice the first “red flags” already in the first love scenes: in a fit of rage, Jose plunges a knife into a watermelon so that Carmen shudders. Carmen is still faithful and truly in love, childishly insistent on choosing her over military duty, but Jose is already teetering on the brink of madness. Murder at the end of the opera is often justified by the force of feelings, but Nacho Duato does not see love in this – only the desire to possess – and reminds that the problem of male violence against women has not gone away since the 19th century.

If Jose changes beyond recognition, going through his terrible path, then Escamillo looks like a bastion of stability. A bullfighter who looks death in the eye every day must be calm and confident, says Nacho Duato. Young baritone Semyon Antakov simply radiates this confidence, and it becomes clear how easy it is for any woman to exchange the madness of jealousy for the inviolability of love.

However, no matter how free Carmen is in her choice, following Bizet, Nacho Duato introduces an element of mysticism into a realistic, very life-like story: Carmen’s fate is predetermined. Death follows her everywhere (ballet dancer Marat Shemiunov seems to have appeared in this production from Ingmar Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal”) and, literally pushing Carmen towards Jose, predetermines the tragic outcome.

This atmosphere, real and at the same time surreal, is skillfully maintained by Nacho Duato’s regular collaborators: production designer Jaffar Chalabi and costume designer Angelina Atlagic. Chalabi, an architect by training, is a true master of playing with space. Freeing the stage from the wings and bringing the action as close as possible to the audience, he easily turns the interior into an exterior, the tavern into a bullring, and the buildings of Seville into the otherworldly landscapes of Giorgio de Chirico.

However, no matter what happens on stage, the audience still goes to the theater for the famous music of Bizet, and performed by the Mikhailovsky Theater orchestra under the direction of Alexander Solovyov, it, like a century and a half ago, stuns with its intensity and beauty.