Opera Viva presents Carmen
Opera Viva, in association with the McIntire Department of Music, the University Programs Council, and Newcomb Hall, presents George Bizet's Carmen.
Friday, April 14th, 2006 8:00pm
Saturday, April 15th, 2006 8:00pm
Friday, April 21st, 2006 8:00pm
Sunday, April 23rd, 2006 8:00pm
Performances will be held in the Newcomb Hall Courtyard. Tickets are free and will be available at the Newcomb Hall Box Office (434) 924-8808
The University's first student opera company, Opera Viva, will present its inaugural production George Bizet's Carmen this April, directed by Anne Holt. Many members of the cast, as well as the chorus also performed in the recent student opera production of Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, also directed by Anne Holt.
Every aspect of this new production has been created by the students themselves. A group of students, led by director Anne Holt, studied and shaped all elements of this production, including staging, lighting, and costuming, through an independent study course during the fall of 2005. This production will feature the opera's original dialogue, as intended by Georges Bizet. An entirely new English translation of both the dialogue and the verse, created by the students of last semester's course, will be premiered in this production.
This production is supported and presented in collaboration with the McIntire Department of Music, the University Programs Council, Newcomb Hall, and the Student Council. Tickets are free of charge and available through the Newcomb Box Office at (434) 295-8808, and at the door.
Opera Viva
Opera Viva's mission is to bring engaging, accessible, and relevant live opera productions to the UVa and Charlottesville communities. We desire to involve as many students as possible in the process of creating operatic performance, whether as singers, musicians, crew, or audience members. We hope to provide unique opportunities both for student performance and student artistic leadership and self-governance in the field of opera. We aspire to draw old and new opera lovers alike to performances crafted with musical and dramatic excellence, scholarship, and passion.
Formed in the spring of the 2005-2006 academic year, Opera Viva is the University's first student opera company. The production of Bizet's Carmen will be its inaugural performance.
George Bizet & Carmen
George Bizet, born 1838 in Paris, was a renowned French composer of the nineteenth century. His career was cut tragically short when he died at the age of 37, leaving only a few complete works, of which Carmen is the acknowledged masterpiece. Based on Prosper Mérimée's novella Carmen, the opera tells the story of the fateful love affair between the gypsy Carmen and the soldier Don Jose.
Carmen, an opéra-comique in four acts, takes place in Seville. Heard throughout the opera are invocations of the exotic setting, with images of bull-fighting, gypsies and smugglers. To this day, Carmen remains one of the most frequently performed, well-known, and popular operas in the world.
