Carmen, is Bizet’s delectable femme fatale of Seville, a universally loved opera full of thrilling music and heartstopping drama. Bizet’s score is an endless parade of one great melody after the other.

David McVicar’s Glyndebourne production from 2002 uses Bizet’s original opéra-comique format, where dialogue is deployed in place of the recitatives, in what is only Glyndebourne’s second production of the opera in its history, the other being Peter Hall’s 1985 production.

In 1938, there were plans afoot for a Glyndebourne-Covent Garden season which included Carmen in the repertoire, to be conducted by Bruno Walter and directed by Carl Ebert, and the following year John Christie announced plans for the 1940 season at Glyndebourne, which also included Carmen. The outbreak of World War II put pay to both plans.

This 2002 production provides Anne-Sofie von Otter with her, to date, only Carmen, and young Swiss conductor Phillippe Jordan, currently music director of the Opéra national de Paris, with his UK debut. Anne-Sofie von Otter’s gypsy femme fatale is immediate from the moment she first appears onstage to deliver her character-defining Habanera.

The deluxe booklet includes synopsis in English, German and French with French libretto and English translation included.