Carmen - Dalia Staveska

It's hard to believe that Carmen, the world's most performed opera, was a flop at its premiere, precipitating the death of its author at the age of 36. Didn't Bizet know how to show "real men and real women dazzled and tortured by passion", as Théodore de Banville enthused? Tonight, three voices - the cigar girl, her lover Don José and the toreador Escamillo - perform Carmen behind closed doors, a new operatic suite that offers a condensed version of its key scenes. Lili Boulanger, the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, had another destiny cut short in the prime of life and inspiration, precisely with this cantata, Faust et Hélène.