Carnegie Hall's video streaming channel Carnegie Hall+ will present a free outdoor screening of Bizet's Carmen in Bryant Park August 3. The production, from the Arena di Verona, stars mezzo-soprano El墨na Garan膷a in the title role, with tenor Brian Jagde as Don Jos茅, baritone Claudio Sgura as Escamillo, and soprano Maria Teresa Leva as Mica毛la.
The screening celebrates the 150th anniversary of Bizet's opera, about a cigarette-factory-worker-turned-smuggler who convinces a soldier to join her life of crime. Although its 1875 premiere was poorly received, Carmen became a hit in the 1880s, and is now one of the most recognized works in the operatic canon. Many of the opera's tunes, such as the overture, Carmen's "Habanera," and Escamillo's "Toreador Song," are frequently heard in popular culture, and a 1943 musical theatre adaptation by Oscar Hammerstein II, called Carmen Jones, was a Broadway hit.
The Arena di Verona is a 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheater which, since 1913, has been home to an annual opera festival. Carnegie Hall has partnered with Fondazione Arena di Verona and Unitel to present this screening as part of the Carnegie Hall Citywide series, by which Carnegie Hall presents free performances around New York City. The 2025 Carnegie Hall Citywide lineup includes five additional concerts in Bryant Park through July and August, showcasing artists including jazz vocalist C茅cile McLorin Salvant, pianist Orrin Evans, and Broadway's Dez Duron.
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