We round up the reviews for Damiano Michieletto’s new production of the opera…
Broadway World: ***** “With so many great tunes to work with, Antonello Manacorda keeps his orchestra in check – we get the famous set pieces, but none overpower the drama nor provoke too long a period of applause that disrupts the carefully constructed tension. The chorus too have plenty to do but, aside from the odd fight and cheering for the heroes of the corrida, they too let the storytelling drive the production.”
The Guardian: **** “By the time she appears at Glyndebourne this summer, Russian mezzo soprano Aigul Akhmetshina will have headlined three new productions of Bizet’s opera in under six months. Not bad for a 27-year-old who only five years ago was on the company’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme. Vocally she is electrifying, the crushed-velvet lower register rising to a free and easy top with a welcome bel canto flexibility. Dramatically she convinces too, her actions occasionally arbitrary but always complex.”
The Telegraph: *** “Aigul Akhmetshina is riveting in the title role, but Antonello Manacorda seems ill-at-ease with the fantastic flexibility of Bizet’s score.”
Bachtrack: **** “It won’t frighten the traditionalists, but it provides plenty of hard-hitting drama and shows the characters in a new light, all the while giving the glittery set pieces all the space they need. It wouldn’t surprise me if this production is still being revived decades on.”
The Arts Desk: *** “In short, the vocal pleasures are many, and would pass muster on the radio. But as a drama, set up and perfectly paced by Bizet in one of opera’s most miraculous scores, this doesn’t begin to spark. Hopes run higher for Glyndebourne’s coming production conducted by Robin Ticciati, in which Akhmetshina appears in the second run of performances, and an Edinburgh Festival airing of Andreas Homoki’s fascinating Opéra-Comique metatheatre.”
London Unattached: “This is a Carmen that is worth the price of the ticket to see Aigul Akmetshina at her peak. But there is plenty more in this production to seduce and entertain, and with Vasilisa Berzhanskaya and Brandon Jovanovich heading up the B cast it will be worth seeing twice.”
iNews: ***** “A performance of mesmerising sound which reaches near perfection.”
The FT: “Aigul Akhmetshina in the title role has a voice that fills the London auditorium with sound and colour.”
Carmen continues to play at the Royal Opera House until the 31st May.