Andrea Baker as Carmen, with Anton Keremidtchiev as the torero Escamillo.

George Bizet’s Carmen is enjoying a popular run at the Finnish National Opera this season, in a lavish production laced with cinematic references.

Carmen is perhaps the ultimate tale of a femme fatale. Don José falls in love with the wild and wayward Carmen and abandons his career. But, tiring of his possessiveness, she falls in love with a torero, inflaming Don José’s jealousy, and soon there is blood on the ground outside the bullfighting arena.

The opera was originally set in early nineteenth century Seville but this new production, a co-production of Finnish National Opera and Switzerland’s Opéra de Lausanne, takes a more modern, cinematic approach. The scene is 1930s Spain during the tense period leading up to the civil war – details that are convincingly evoked by Alessandro Camera’s impressive stage design.

Carmen is thought to be the most popular opera ever written, thanks to its enchantingly bold title character, its compelling music, an almost unbroken flow of colourful and memorable tunes from the seductive Habanera to the defiant Toreador aria.

In this production, the feisty title role is shared by two mezzo-sopranos, American Andrea Baker and Finnish Tuija Knihtilä.

This is Baker’s first visit to Finland and she provided plenty of raw energy and grit to the role of Carmen during last Thursday’s performance. Soprano Helena Juntunen also delighted the audience as Don José’s chaste first love Micaela, allowing her crystal-clear and powerful voice to shine through.

Among this production’s highlights are the carefully choreographed slow-motion scenes, which appear as if filmed with a high-speed camera. Set amid the scarlet hallways of the toreador’s residence, they gave a heightened sense of drama and worked well as transitions between the acts. The opera’s many crowd scenes were also well executed and provided an attractive spectacle – even for those straining to see the stage from the dizzy heights of the third balcony.

Louisa Gairn - HT
Heikki Tuuli - Finnish National Opera