Organ recital
SAINT MARK’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 2151 DORSET ROAD
www.saintmarks columbus.org
As part of the Saint Mark’s Music Series, organist Kevin Jones of First Congregational Church will perform a recital. 7:30 p.m. Saturday donations
For its production of composer Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera “Carmen,” Opera Columbus has turned to the talents of a producer, a director, a choreographer and a conductor.
Such behind-the-scenes artists are essential to any opera; far less common, however, is for the team to consist entirely of women.
In Opera Columbus’ production, producer Peggy Kriha Dye, director Crystal Manich, choreographer Susan Van Pelt Petry and conductor Kathleen Kelly have teamed up to tell the tale of Carmen, the fictitious Spanish gypsy whose allure is irresistible to the soldier Don Jose.
This weekend, the Frenchlanguage opera will be performed in the Southern Theatre. Contralto Avery Amereau will appear as Carmen, with tenor Jon Jurgens as Don Jose and baritone Norman Garrett as the toreador Escamillo. Kelly will conduct the Columbus Symphony.
The process of hiring the women was organic, Dye said.
“I wasn’t setting out to only bring in women,” said Dye, who also serves as the artistic director of Opera Columbus. “I was in a conference call with most of those women, ... and it hit me: ‘You know, we’re all women. That’s kind of awesome.’”
As the director of more than 40 previous operas, Manich had never collaborated with a female conductor. And a show in which all four roles are filled by women? Don’t ask.
“You don’t have that combination ever,” Manich said.
Together, the women aimed to craft a production that avoided cliches. For example, the title character will be portrayed as a wellrounded person rather than a seductress.
“When you go back and you read the story, ... you actually find out who she is, and she became a caricature in opera,” said Dye, referring to the original novella by Prosper Merimee. “As opposed to, ‘Wow, this is a real woman, struggling to survive, who happens to have sex appeal.’”
Manich also aims for a more-nuanced version of Don Jose, who is typically presented as a figure