OPERA TURNS UP THE HEAT
Carmen coming to Badlands
With its towering hoodoos and dry desert climate, the Drumheller Badlands are a far cry from the cobbled courtyards of southern Spain. But on Aug. 4, for one night only, the Drumheller Badlands Amphitheatre will transform for an international production of Georges Bizet’s beloved opera Carmen.
The sandstone open-air theatre will lend a timeless quality to the tale of lawlessness, morality and death as naive soldier Don José is seduced by the wild Gypsy Carmen, only to lose everything in the end.
Singing the title role is Spanish mezzo-soprano Anna Goma and it is a role she has played all over Europe.
“I adore Carmen and somehow I feel very close to her. She is a feminist who refuses to bow to social standards,” said Goma in an interview from Germany. “All women have a bit of Carmen inside them. She has strength, a fiery temperament and passion and those are qualities inherent in women.
“When Bizet wrote Carmen, it was considered a revolutionary opera and it still is today because we still have a long path to go to arrive at the kind of gender equality that Bizet was showing us. Though Carmen was written more than 130 years ago, she remains a woman of our times fighting against social mores. She speaks to us as much today as she did to audiences a century ago. That is what makes the opera and her story timeless and universal.”
Set in Seville in the 1800s, Carmen tells the tragic story of the free spirited Gypsy Carmen and her two lovers, a soldier and a matador.
“At first, Carmen is drawn to the soldier Don José because of his indifference. She is used to being instantly desired and to be in the limelight. When Don José doesn’t immediately fall under her spell it makes her curious. He becomes a challenge for her. She sees in him the chance to have a man who will support her and cheer her without taking away her freedom.
“The matador, Escamillo, is the man she dreams of. He is strong yet tender and, as a bullfighter, he is even more in the limelight than she is. In Escamillo, she sees a man who can give her steadiness and a better life, even if it means living in the shadow of his fame.”
Some critics maintain that Carmen’s tragic flaw is that she is incapable of true love, but Goma insists “she loves very deeply, very intensely and when she no longer feels those things, she changes her men.
“I agree that she is a victim of her love and her need for independence and freedom, but her real flaw is her stubbornness. There is no middle point for her. It’s always all or nothing.”
Carmen is one of the most popular operas in the classical canon and Goma understands why.
“It is a masterpiece. It is so rich musically and dramatically. The tension in the plot never falters so that the audience is caught up in the action of the play right from the beginning.
“Carmen is a love story and it’s about love in all its forms. We have the tender, pure love of Micaela, who is Don José ’s betrothed, and the passionate love of the freespirited Gypsy Carmen. At the end of the play we see how desperate love can get when Don José feels rejected. Through the matador Escamillo, Bizet shows that captivating, fascinating kind of attraction. Bizet even shows us how Carmen loves herself and how that makes her strong and wilful.
“The audience will be able to identify with at least one of these forms of love … which is why people relate to Carmen the opera and Carmen the central character.”
Goma has just completed four concerts and four productions of Carmen in Europe this summer and is looking forward to her Canadian debut at the Badlands. To bring it to Drumheller, Edmonton’s Mercury Opera has teamed up with Opera Classica Europa and the Badlands Amphitheatre.
“I hope this will be the first of many visits for me to Canada. I am amazed at how Mercury Opera in Edmonton and Opera Classica here in Germany have been able to co-ordinate such an incredible project. I hope it will become an annual event.”
The Badlands Amphitheatre can seat up to 2,500 people. Goma says this will be the second largest venue she has sung in.
“Earlier in July, I performed at a festival in Bad Homburg in Germany, where we had an audience of 4,000 people. It was simply amazing. The response from the audience draws out a powerful performance from the artists. It was a special performance, which I believe will also be the case in (Drumheller).”
Until this summer, Goma had never performed in an outdoor theatre. She feels it frees her singing.
“When you are singing in an indoor theatre you can control your performance by hearing what comes back to you. In an outdoor theatre that sound does not come back to you, so you must learn to sing by sensation alone and not by feedback.”
Michael Vaccaro, founder and director of Germany ’s Opera Classica Europa, promises this production of Carmen “will have many jaw-dropping moments, but one should keep a close eye on Anna when she sings and dances. She absolutely sparkles and it is a huge challenge for the artist to sing and dance simultaneously.”
For her part, Goma says “opera is always challenging because the artist has to sing and act and be very aware of producing a believable character, and when you add dance it is increasing that challenge. The secret for me is practice, so that it comes natural and I feel absolutely comfortable. I am not a professional dancer, so I choose movements that feel natural for me and then I add emotions that will make the dance more authentic.
“We have an expression in Spanish that less is more, and that is how I approach the dances in my Carmen. I make the most of less.”
Singing the role of the matador, Escamillo, is Ukrainian baritone Yuriy Yurchuk, with Edmonton tenor Boris Derow singing Don José and soprano Lona Mohr Villadsen singing Micaela, Carmen’s rival for the affections of Don José.
Mercury Opera’s founder and artistic director Darcia Parada has adapted the show’s set design for the Alberta location and will be directing this performance. Franco Giacosa is conducting the orchestra.