Marina Viotti will make her Opéra de Monte-Carlo debut and Benjamin Bernheim will sing Don José for the first time in his career when Bizet’s Carmen comes to the Grimaldi Forum on Friday 20th November.
The performance brings together an international cast for a semi-staged presentation of one of the most celebrated works in the French operatic repertoire. Marc Leroy-Calatayud will conduct, with staging by Vanessa d’Ayral de Sérignac.
While Viotti’s appearance will be her introduction to the company’s audience, the evening will also mark a significant addition to Bernheim’s repertoire as he takes on the opera’s central tenor role.
TWO DEBUTS, ONE PRODUCTION
Viotti will portray Carmen, whose independence and refusal to submit to the expectations of others drive the opera’s unfolding drama. Bernheim will appear opposite her as Don José, the soldier whose relationship with Carmen develops into a destructive obsession.
Swiss mezzo-soprano Viotti was named Lyric Artist of the Year at the 2023 Victoires de la Musique and reached a worldwide audience through her appearance at the Paris 2024 Olympic opening ceremony. Her musical background spans flute, jazz, gospel, and heavy metal, alongside her career on the international opera stage.
Bernheim returns to the company following a recital in February 2025. The French-Swiss tenor’s previous roles include the title characters in Faust and Les Contes d’Hoffmann, as well as Rodolfo in La Bohème and Des Grieux in Manon.
Their performances will be joined by Erwin Schrott as the bullfighter Escamillo and Sandra Hamaoui as Micaëla, whose loyalty to Don José offers a contrast to Carmen’s determination to live on her own terms.
Hamaoui will also make her Opéra de Monte-Carlo debut, singing Micaëla for the first time. The French-American soprano has previously worked with Leroy-Calatayud on Roméo et Juliette in Geneva. The conductor will himself be making his debut with the Monaco company.
MONACO’S ENSEMBLE JOINS THE CAST
The supporting cast features Andrew Moore as Zuniga, Anas Séguin as Moralès, Marie Lombard as Frasquita and Axelle Saint-Cirel as Mercédès. Pierre Doyen will sing Le Dancaïre, while Loïc Félix takes the role of Le Remendado.
Alongside the soloists, the performance will feature the Opéra de Monte-Carlo Chorus, led by chorus master Stefano Visconti, and the children’s choir of the Rainier III Academy of Music.
The Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra will perform Bizet’s score under Leroy-Calatayud’s direction, bringing together three of the Principality’s musical ensembles for the evening.
A DEFINING WORK OF FRENCH OPERA
First performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1875, Carmen has become one of the most widely recognised operas in the world. Familiar melodies including the Habanera and the Toreador Song form part of a score that moves between public spectacle and intimate confrontation.
At the centre is a heroine whose insistence on personal freedom remains critical to the work’s appeal. The tension between Carmen’s independence and Don José’s increasingly possessive attachment gives the opera its dramatic force.
For Monaco audiences, the November performance offers the opportunity to revisit that familiar story through two new interpretations, as Viotti makes her first appearance with the company and Bernheim explores Don José for the first time.
Carmen will be performed at the Grimaldi Forum on Friday 20th November at 7:30pm. The approximate running time is three hours, including a 25-minute intermission.
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