Seduction, murder, lust, gypsies and jealousy. Georges Bizet’s opera “Carmen” has it all and is opening at the Newman Center of Performing Arts this Thursday.
If you only see one opera in your life, “‘Carmen’ is the opera to see,” said Director Kenneth Cox. “Everything you want an opera to be, that’s what ‘Carmen’ is.”
“Carmen,” performed in French, takes place in Seville, Spain and begins in a town square outside a guardhouse and factory where Carmen, a gypsy and seductress, flirts her way out of being arrested for assaulting a fellow employee.
Later at a tavern, Carmen dismisses other suitors like Zuniga, a Lt., and Escamillo, a bullfighter, in hopes that Don José, a Crp., will show up for her to seduce and beguile him to join her band of smugglers. José arrives and defies Zuniga’s command to return to the barracks, leaving him no choice but to remain with the smugglers.
Realizing the love affair is coming to an end Carmen throws tarot cards with friends Frasquita and MercédCB(s. Death is foretold in the cards for both Carmen and José.
Performances are this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Gates Concert Hall and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
As the opera opens this weekend for DU and the Denver community, a culmination of months of preparation by music students and faculty come to an end and will be celebrated in the much anticipated opening night.
Senior vocal performance major Thomas Kittle has been preparing since the second week of school fall quarter, when roles were assigned after an audition process. He is portraying Escamillo. Kittle describes his character as pompous and a “man’s man.”
“My character is small but the singing is intense,” said Kittle who first memorized his songs and their translations then put it to music.
“The thing I had the most trouble with was getting [the character] into my voice because it is such a big sing,” Kittle said. “He’s like a rock star.”
Kittle will be attending Indiana University next year for graduate study in vocal performance. The opera is his last opportunity to perform in a large-scale production at DU.
“It’s bittersweet because this school has been so good for me and provided me so many performance opportunities,” said Kittle.
Mica Dominguez-Robinson, also a senior vocal performance major, portrays Frasquita, a friend of Carmen. Dominguez-Robinson first prepared privately with her vocal coach before rehearsals began with the entire cast.
“The biggest thing for me was getting the language down,” said Dominguez-Robinson. “French is my most challenging language.”
Aside from memorizing, rehearsing and developing a character, Dominguez-Robinson has other preparatory rituals.
“I try to keep my partying to a minimum, go to the gym, stretch and I always drink a specific type of water,” said Dominguez-Robinson whose water of choice is Smart Water. “It probably doesn’t affect how I perform, but I always do it.”
This is Director Cox’s first time staging “Carmen.” Which is the most popular opera, musically, ever written, Cox said.
“My goal is to make the performance and rehearsals as professional as possible,” said Cox.
Students are involved at every level from performing onstage, to playing in the orchestra, to moving scenery in between scenes, to creating the lighting design.
“I enjoy delegating all the jobs to people and watching them get experience,” Cox said. He sang fulltime with opera companies for over twenty years before coming to DU.
All of the lead roles are undergraduates and the chorus consists of undergraduates in the music school as well. The costumes and sets were professionally made and rented from the Tri-Cities Opera based in New York.
“I want them to be ready for a professional show when they are done with school,” said Cox who chose do to ‘Carmen’ last year because he knew he had strong voices to fill the lead roles. “It’s one of the most powerful operas in terms of music and drama.”
The Director of the Lamont Symphony Orchestra, Lawrence Golan, will conduct the orchestra for “Carmen.”
Unlike the singers, the orchestra auditions the first week of every quarter, so the orchestra for “Carmen” was not chosen until the beginning of spring quarter.
earsals in total, and they see and play the music for the first time at the first rehearsal.
“The conductor’s role is the interpretive piece,” said Golan. “I have to have the big idea of how it all fits together, [it is] the conductor’s interpretations of the composer’s intentions.”
Golan is also currently the conductor for the Phoenix Youth Symphony and commutes between Denver and Phoenix weekly.
He has developed a set plan that he goes through in preparation for conducting the orchestra, which he completes well before rehearsals start.
His priorities in the opera are tempo and balance and he sets and maintains these for the musicians and vocalists through physical and visual gestures.
One cast will perform Thursday and Saturday and the other cast will perform Friday and Sunday.
Opening night for both casts will be a visual, auditory and emotional culmination of these hardworking artists and performer’s preparations.
If you go
What: Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” performed by Lamont School of Music students and orchestra.
When: April 23, 24 and 25, 7 p.m. April 26, 2:30 p.m.
Where: Newman Center of Performing Arts, Gates Concert Hall.
Cost: Adults: $12-$27. Students: $10-$25. Reserved seating. Tickets are available at the Newman Center box office. Open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and one hour prior to curtain time, or call the box office at 303.871.7720. Also available at ticketmaster.com or by calling 303.357. ARTS.
On the ‘Net: For more information visit www.du.edu/lamont/index.html.
