Georges Bizet's Carmen DVD / The Australian Philharmonic Orchestra / The Antonio Vargas Flamenco Dance Company / Victoria State Opera Chorus

UPC 5999548220078

REGION 2 PAL DVD

MADE IN EU

AUDIO: French 5.1

SUBTITLES: Hungarian, German

Total Runtime: 164 minutes

English Summary:

Carmen is an opera in four acts by French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on a novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875, where its breaking of conventions shocked and scandalized its first audiences.

Bizet died suddenly after the 33rd performance, unaware that the work would achieve international acclaim within the following ten years. Carmen has since become one of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the classical canon; the "Habanera" from act 1 and the "Toreador Song" from act 2 are among the best known of all operatic arias.

Hungarian Summary:

Egy cigánylány, Carmen története, ki szépségével minden férfit elcsábít. Áldozatai közt van egy fiatal katona, ki mindent felad és szerelme után megy, mit sem tudva arról, hogy Carmen már mást, a Torreadort szereti. Egy tragikus szerelmi háromszög... Georges Bizet Carmen-jét első bemutatójára Párizsban került sor 1985-ben. 800 ember ült a közönség soraiban. Teljesen mindegy milyen előadásban, legyen az kicsi, vagy, mindig felejthetetlen. Igen sok minden változott azóta, de a drámai történet, amit zenéje oly jól kifejez, még ma is változatlanul vonz minket. „A legMozartosabb opera Mozart óta" Ernst Newman

Characters

in order of singing:

Morales (A Corporal) ROGER HOWELL

Micaela (A Peasant Girl) ROSAMUND ILLING, DEBORAH RIEDEL

Don Jose (A Corporal) ANTONIO ORDONEZ, JAMES HOBACK, DENES STRINY

Zuniga (A Lieutenant) GEOFFREY CHARD

Carmen (A gypsy) MARIA EWING, CYNTHIA CLAREY

Frasquita (A gypsy) MIRIAM GORMLEY

Mercedes (A Gypsy) JENNIFER BERMINGHAM

Escamillo (A Toreador) CHRSTOPHER BLADES

Dancairo (A Smuggler) JOHN BOUTON- WOOD

Remendado (A Smuggler) CHRISTOPHER BOGG

For over 30 years the Australian Philharmonic Orchestra/Australian Pops Orchestra (APO) or affectionately called the Aussie Pops, has presented a unique blend of popular classical and contemporary music to Australian audiences. We are currently working very hard to bring new younger audiences to our concerts with more current music being showcased as shown in our 2016 series whilst staying true to our long-standing patrons and admirers.

Antonio Vargas is recognized as one of the world’s leading Flamenco dancers and choreographers. Ingenious, innovative and a perfectionist, he performs and teaches internationally, with works for theatre, cinema and television. He is known as a guardian of an esoteric art form that, despite its massive recent popularity, remains elusive to most of those who flock to see it. He is a master of the complex rhythmic syncopations that characterize much of the excitement of Flamenco.

Antonio Vargas won accolades for his performance as the gypsy father, Rico in the Australian box-office hit movie Strictly Ballroom, directed by Baz Luhrmann and the winner of the Golden Globe Award and of the Cannes Film Festival Golden Camera Award for Young Directors. More recently he choreographed and staged a Flamenco segment for Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible II directed by John Woo. He also played a cameo in this film. Other acting credits include Time Trax.

Another important facet of his career is the work he has done in collaboration with orchestras and opera productions, such as Harvey Goldsmith’s Carmen (Sydney, Melbourne, Zurich and Munch), Bolero, Zapateado, and Three Spanish Dances with the Munich Philharmoniker, Blood Wedding for the London Operatic Society and La Vida Breve, a Basil Lochart production for the BBC, and recently produced for the Sydney Festival.