An Unheard “Carmen”

At the Salzburg Festival, Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” will be performed in a version audiences have never heard before. The team led by director Gabriela Carrizo of the Peeping Tom Collective and conductor Teodor Currentzis has incorporated parts from the opera’s original version into their interpretation, allowing passages that Bizet originally composed for “Carmen” to be heard once more. Prior to the 1875 premiere, the composer was forced to cut, simplify and replace material, including densely polyphonic choral scenes, nuanced supporting roles, melodramas and, above all, Carmen’s opening aria. The famous Habanera was only incorporated into the work at a later stage, at the request of the singer in the lead role.
Bärenreiter has published all surviving original versions of Georges Bizet’s opéra-comique in a first edition by editor Paul Prévost, making it possible to rediscover one of the most successful works in opera history. The original 1874 version — “the fruit of Bizet’s creative imagination, before external interventions and the experience of rehearsals and staging influenced his thinking” (Paul Prévost) — received its concert premiere in 2023 under the baton of René Jacobs. On 25 July, it will receive its first staged performance at the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca (Apulia), directed by Denis Krief and conducted by Fabio Luisi.
After “Carmen” premiered in 1875 in a version that differed from the composer’s original intentions, the work was further altered and modified following Bizet’s untimely death. Drawing on the Opéra-Comique performance materials and numerous additional sources, Paul Prévost’s Bärenreiter edition reconstructs the text of the world premiere and, above all, offers a fresh perspective on the orchestration. In many respects, therefore, the premiere at the Salzburg Festival on 26 July 2026, featuring Asmik Grigorian (Carmen) and Jonathan Tetelman (Don José), is eagerly anticipated.