Carmen PREMIERE

In the organizer's words:

Opera by Georges Bizet

Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy based on the novella by Prosper Mérimée / in French and German narration

Carmen's desire for independence and self-determination fascinates the soldier Don José. He leaves his fiancée Micaëla for this woman. He gives up his bourgeois life, eventually becomes an outlaw himself and plunges into the world of smugglers with Carmen. But Carmen manages to free herself from this corset of possessiveness and control, with fatal consequences, as José's jealousy drives him to extremes.

No other female character has aroused more emotions than Carmen. She is the prototype for the freedom-loving, emancipated woman. Georges Bizet's melodious masterpiece opens the 2025 Heidelberg Castle Festival in a new open-air production.