Oper

Georges Bizet

Carmen

Opéra comique in vier Akten

Text Ludovic Halévy & Henri Meilhac

nach Prosper Mérimée

3 Termine

Carmen

Cast at Saturday 31. May 2025

Carmen

J'Nai Bridges

Escamillo, Toreador

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung

Szenische Einstudierung

Joan Anton Rechi

Bühne

Alfons Flores

Kostüme

Mercè Paloma

Licht

Alberto Rodriguez Vega
Area 1 242 €
Area 1

242 €

Area 2 198 €
Area 2

198 €

Area 3 165 €
Area 3

165 €

Area 4 113 €
Area 4

113 €

Area 5 89 €
Area 5

89 €

Area 6 65 €
Area 6

65 €

Area 7 42 €
Area 7

42 €

Area 8 29 €
Area 8

29 €

Area 9 17 €
Area 9

17 €

Standing room
Standing room

U27   Included in: Cycle »Zum Einstieg«
Cycle »Zum Einstieg«

Season 2024/2025

Certain works enjoy worldwide popularity due to their captivating storylines, their ingenious music or the recognition value of catchy melodies. These pieces appeal to opera professionals, but are also particularly suitable for those who are at the beginning of their journey through the infinite cosmos of opera.

13. November 2024: MADAMA BUTTERFLY
17. Febuary 2025: TOSCA
31. May 2025: CARMEN

Carmen

Cast at Tuesday 3. June 2025

Carmen

J'Nai Bridges

Escamillo, Toreador

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung

Szenische Einstudierung

Joan Anton Rechi

Bühne

Alfons Flores

Kostüme

Mercè Paloma

Licht

Alberto Rodriguez Vega
Area 1 232 €
Area 1

232 €

Area 2 190 €
Area 2

190 €

Area 3 153 €
Area 3

153 €

Area 4 108 €
Area 4

108 €

Area 5 86 €
Area 5

86 €

Area 6 62 €
Area 6

62 €

Area 7 39 €
Area 7

39 €

Area 8 29 €
Area 8

29 €

Area 9 16 €
Area 9

16 €

Standing room
Standing room

Included in: Subscription 3
Subscription 3

Season 2024/2025

Choose a day of the week and your favorite seats and enjoy five performances in one season.

The following performances are included in this subscription:

22. October 2024: FIN DE PARTIE
14. January 2025: BALLET: SHIFTING SYMMETRIES
11. Febuary 2025: IL TROVATORE
22. April 2025: ARABELLA
03. June 2025: CARMEN

Carmen

Cast at Friday 6. June 2025

Carmen

J'Nai Bridges

Escamillo, Toreador

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung

Szenische Einstudierung

Joan Anton Rechi

Bühne

Alfons Flores

Kostüme

Mercè Paloma

Licht

Alberto Rodriguez Vega
Area 1 242 €
Area 1

242 €

Area 2 198 €
Area 2

198 €

Area 3 165 €
Area 3

165 €

Area 4 113 €
Area 4

113 €

Area 5 89 €
Area 5

89 €

Area 6 65 €
Area 6

65 €

Area 7 42 €
Area 7

42 €

Area 8 29 €
Area 8

29 €

Area 9 17 €
Area 9

17 €

Standing room
Standing room

Included in: Subscription 7
Subscription 7

Season 2024/2025

Choose a day of the week and your favorite seats and enjoy five performances in one season.

The following performances are included in this subscription:

27. September 2024: BALLET: SCHWANENSEE
25. October 2024: FIN DE PARTIE
15. November 2024: MADAMA BUTTERFLY
14. March 2025: WERTHER
06. June 2025: CARMEN

About the Production

Short Summary

The freedom-loving Carmen is desired by all men. Although none of their relationships last, the soldier Don José falls madly in love with her after she coquettishly throws a flower at his feet.

He deserts, renounces a budding relationship with Micaëla, a girl from his village, and joins Carmen's band of smugglers. This time too, Carmen's feelings grow cold and she is only interested in the bullfighter Escamillo. An argument between Don José and Carmen escalates in front of the arena: Filled with jealousy, Don José kills his former lover.

Storyline

Soldiers stand guard outside a cigarette factory in the south of Spain under the command of Private Moralès.

Micaëla, a young woman from the Basque country, is looking for Don José, with whom she grew up. He is not on duty at the time. When the soldiers become intrusive, Micaëla flees.

After the changing of the guard, when José starts his shift, there is a break in the cigarette factory. The female workers enter the square - enthusiastically watched by the men. Carmen is the most eagerly awaited. She arrives and sings a song about the unpredictability and uncontrollability of love. At the end, she throws José a flower.

Micaëla hands José a letter and tells him that José's mother told her to kiss him from her. José is moved and confused by this surprising reminder of his former life.

The factory workers alert the guards: Carmen has injured a colleague in a fight. When interrogated by Lieutenant Zuniga, Carmen only answers provocatively. José is given the task of guarding Carmen. Flirting and with the prospect of a reunion in Lillas Pastia's pub, Carmen persuades him to neglect his duty. Carmen manages to escape.

On the outskirts of the town, Lillas Pastia runs an impromptu tavern where Zuniga and Morales are guests and are entertained by Frasquita and Mercédès.

Carmen sings an inciting song. Accompanied by celebrating soldiers, the bullfighter Escamillo arrives, is cheered and moves on. The smugglers Dancaïre and Remendado propose a criminal maneuver to the women in which they are to use their feminine charms.

Frasquita and Mercédès join them, but Carmen refuses. She is in love with José and wants to wait for him.

José has been in prison for two months because of Carmen's escape, and today he sees her again for the first time. When the signal for the curfew sounds a short time later, Carmen is furious that José wants to follow him. The argument escalates. Just as José is about to leave, Lieutenant Zuniga returns, who is also after Carmen. José defends her aggressively. As José and Zuniga come to blows, the smugglers return and put Zuniga out of action. José has ignored the tap and attacked his superior officer, choosing a life with the smugglers' gang.

The smugglers meet in the border area and wait for an opportunity to bring their goods across the border.

Carmen and José argue, not for the first time: she doesn't want to be told what to do, he sees "the devil" in her at times like this. Frasquita, Mercédès and Carmen read each other's cards: Mercédès foresees great love for herself, while Frasquita predicts a rich husband and his imminent demise. Carmen recognizes death in the cards: first her own, then José's.

The smugglers get to work. Micaëla has made her way to the smugglers and narrowly misses their trigger. She hides to wait for José.

José, who has remained near the smugglers' camp as a guard, meets Escamillo, who wants to see Carmen. José attacks him with a knife. The returning smugglers separate the fighters. Escamillo bids farewell, confident of victory, and invites everyone to his next bullfight. The smugglers discover Micaëla, who urges José to return to his mother. José hesitates because he fears that Carmen might turn to Escamillo in his absence. Micaëla finally tells José that his mother is dying and manages to persuade him. Escamillo's song can be heard from afar.

There is great excitement in front of the arena: The crowd cheers the bullfighting participants as they enter.

The last to arrive is the enthusiastically welcomed matador Escamillo. Before the fight begins, he and Carmen profess their love for each other. Frasquita and Mercédès warn Carmen about José, whom they have seen in the crowd, but Carmen does not want to avoid the confrontation and stays behind alone.

José confronts Carmen to urge her to make a fresh start. He threatens her, but she no longer loves him and is not prepared to pretend. While the crowd in the arena cheers the successful Escamillo, José stabs Carmen.

Act 1 & Act 2 85 min
Intermission 25 min
Act 3 & Act 4 60 min

When Carmen was premiered, the region of the plot - Andalusia - was dangerous, certainly without any tourist idyll. In order to recreate the original atmosphere of the material, Calixto Bieito searched for a setting in Spain that corresponded to Andalusia at the time. He found what he was looking for in the African part of Spain, in Ceuta: the prevailing mixture of poverty, smuggling, lack of prospects, refugees and soldiers inspired Bieito to create this production. We experience a society characterized by violence, which nevertheless tries to wrest a certain joy, beauty, freedom and love from life.

For this production, we recommend a minimum age of 14.

»This music seems perfect to me. It is light, flexible, polite. It is amiable, it doesn't sweat. Without a grimace! Without falseness! Without the lie of grand style! She is so unaffected and sincere that I have practically learned her by heart from the very beginning.« (Friedrich Nietzsche)

The Viennese premiere of Carmen in today's Staatsoper (1875) was the first performance of the work outside France. Moreover, it was only with this Viennese premiere that this opera achieved its international breakthrough.

© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper

This Vienna State Opera production was originally brought out by the San Francisco Opera in co-production with the Boston Lyric Opera.

FAQ

Tickets for our standing room can be purchased online or at the Bundestheater box office from 10 am on the day of the performance. BundestheaterCard holders can book standing room tickets online the day before the performance.

In addition, a fixed contingent of standing room tickets is available for regular evening performances from 80 minutes before the start of the performance at our standing room box office (Operngasse entrance).

Our operas are sung in the original languages - these vary depending on the work.

At each seat, subtitles in different languages can be switched on or off via a separate subtitle screen. In addition to the original language of the opera, you can choose from up to eight languages: German, English, Italian, French, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin).

In the event of a change of performance, you can of course return or exchange your tickets.

As changes to the cast cannot be ruled out due to illnesses or other hindrances of artists, there is no entitlement to a refund of the ticket price or exchange in this case.

Tickets cannot be returned or exchanged if you are not admitted to the auditorium due to being late (even after the interval).

About Your Visit

Cloakroom

The cloakrooms are located next the the entrances at the Operngasse. You can find additional cloakrooms on the left and right side of the balcony and the gallery and in the boxes. All cloakrooms are free of charge.

Be on Time

We ask you to be on time when attending the performances.
Entry to the auditorium is not allowed after the performance has started. This also applied after the break.

Food and Drink

Our gastronomy opens at the same time entry is permitted. You can enjoy some snacks and drinks before the performance starts or you can book a table for the break.

Practical Information

You can find more practical information regarding your visit (e.g. Dresscode, barrier-free-access, …) here.

 

Discounts, Subscriptions, Cycles

Discounts

The Vienna State Opera offers the following discounts:

  • Under 27
  • Children- & Youth-Tickets
  • BundestheaterCard
  • Ballett-Bonus
  • Ö1-Club
  • Culture Pass »Hunger auf Kunst und Kultur«
  • Disability ID
More info

Subscriptions

Choose a week-day and your favorite seat and enjoy five performances.

  • 4x Opera, 1x Ballet
  • spread out over the whole season
  • up to 30 % discount compared to the regular ticket price
More info

Cycles

Buy multiple performances as a package!

  • big selection of different cycles
  • bundled together by composers, artists or topics
  • spread out over the whole season
  • up to 10 % discount compared to the regular ticket price
More info