Currentzis: Carmen

The Utopia Orchestra, under the baton of Teodor Currentzis, revealed a side of this familiar score that felt entirely fresh and unexpected.

Designer Christoph Hetzer created a dark, abstract, almost apocalyptic landscape in shades of red and grey — with little trace of Iberian warmth or Mediterranean bustle. Instead: looming, impenetrable walls and stark grey rock. In this unsettling space, a performance unfolds that hovers between an anti-patriarchal parable and a troubling reality. At its core is an exploration of systemic violence. Carmen's murder is not just an act of jealous rage, but a femicide in a world where men are taught from childhood to kill.

Gabriela Carrizo's production is, above all, a dance piece. The main characters have dancing alter egos that embody their inner states. Carrizo dispenses entirely with the spoken dialogues by librettists Ludovic Halévy and Henri Meilhac, as well as Ernest Guiraud's recitatives — replacing them with electronic sound collages, the raw intensity of authentic flamenco, a visceral physical vocabulary, and dreamlike imagery.