Setting the tone, an orange tree trimmed as a giant mustache stood out against Santa Fe’s signature curtain-time sunset (visible through the stage). The performance heard Monday evening has to be the funniest I have ever experienced in opera.īarlow engineered a nonstop mix of physical hijinks and on-point confrontations that almost always fit snugly with Rossini’s bubbly music.

If The Barber of Seville cast lacked that level of star power, it delivered big-time on both musical values and – especially – humor. Mariame Clément’s idea for staging Carmen dulled the passions and often clashed with Bizet’s score.Įven with a starrier cast (Isabel Leonard and Michael Fabiano in the lead roles) and a brand-name conductor (the company music director Harry Bicket), Carmen paled in comparison. London-based Australian Stephen Barlow pumped energy and life into Barber by taking his cues from Rossini’s music. The directors of both The Barber of Seville and Carmen injected twenty-first-century tropes into their new productions at Santa Fe Opera. Scenic and Costume designer – Julia Hansen

: Bizet, Carmen: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Santa Fe Opera / Harry Bicket (conductor).

: Rossini, The Barber of Seville: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Santa Fe Opera / Iván López-Reynoso (conductor), Crosby Theater, Santa Fe, New Mexico. United States Santa Fe Opera 2022 : (HS) Michael Fabiano (Don José) and Isabel Leonard (Carmen) © Curtis Brown/Santa Fe Opera

Carmen santa fe opera