Peter Brook’s "La Tragédie de Carmen"

Peter Brook’s 1981 La tragédie de Carmen (The Tragedy of Carmen) is more than a shorter, recut version of Bizet’s Carmen. While it pares the cast down to four singers, accompanied by a chamber orchestra, and is filled with musical passages from Bizet’s famous opera, La Tragédie is a nearly complete reworking of the story focused on the intense interactions and tragedy of the four central characters.

Larry Lash of Opera News dubbed Kirstin Chávez “the Carmen of a lifetime,” praising her “dark, generous mezzo, earthy eroticism, volcanic spontaneity and smoldering charisma.”

Utah tenor Isaac Hurtado makes his Utah Opera debut in the role of Don José, an officer who has his eyes naïvely set on Carmen.

The San Francisco Chronicle praised the “theatrical charisma and musical bravado” of baritone Efraín Solís, who plays Escamillo, Don José’s competition for Carmen’s affection.

Utah Opera Resident Artist Julia Gershkoff plays Micaëla, Don José’s childhood sweetheart.