Aliénor Feix

The opera "Carmen" caused a scandal at its premiere at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Now the feisty Carmen returns to where it all began. Andreas Homoki sets his new production at the Opéra Comique in several eras. Mezzo-soprano Gaëlle Arquez shines in the leading role, with Louis Langrée as musical director. Georges Bizet's world-famous opera returns to the site of its world premiere in 1875. German director Andreas Homoki transposes the story of the beautiful Romani woman and the soldier Don José into three epochs corresponding to the opera: the year of its scandalous premiere; the time of the Resistance, which alludes to the secret love affair; and the present day with the #MeToo movement, which stands for the heroine's sexual emancipation. Recording from April 26, 2023 at the Opéra Comique, Paris

Based on fourteen poems by Max Jacob put to music by Henri Sauguet and Robert Caby, Carte de visite is a particularly vibrant and faithful tribute to the overlooked great poet. Michel Zumpf makes good use of cinema and directs his film just like Max Jacob changed poetry and risked his life – in a unique and unsettling harmony between the most studied seriousness and the wildest imagination.