How to say anything new about Carmen is the perennial challenge faced by opera directors. The power relations between the sexes that make the work as potent today as ever – arguably more so – have been deconstructed in many productions in recent years, not least by Barrie Kosky at Covent Garden in 2018, and rather more successfully Calixto Bieito at ENO in 2012.
Damiano Michieletto, can always be relied upon to offer fresh insights and there are plenty in this production. His principal idea here is to give a prominent role – indeed a walk-on part – to Don José’s mother.
