Performers
Don José: Rolando Villazon
Carmen: Marina Domashenko
Micaela: Adriane Queiroz
Escamillo: Alexander Vinogradov

Berlin State Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Daniel Barenboim (conductor)
Martin Kusej (stage director)

Perhaps one of the world's most famous operas, Bizet's Carmen has been a popular classic since its first performance. The timeless tale of the bewtiching gypsy girl and her jealous lover has entranced generations of opera-goers and this production, led by meastro Daniel Barenboim, is a treat for anyone who likes a good tune. Marina Domashenko's rich mezzo soprano is ideal for the title role, while press after the premiere for Rolando Villazon noted him: 'A perfect José, sung as he hasn't been sung in a long time This young Mexican tenor alone makes it worth seeing.'

Synopsis
Carmen is a gypsy woman who works in a cigar factory in Seville. She is arrested, but her guard, the soldier Don José, is enchanted by her and assists her escape.This however results in Don José going to prison instead.

On his release, he seeks Carmen out and decides to join Carmen and her smuggler friends, at the cost of his military career. Now immersed in a struggle to keep up with the smugglers as well as preserve his claim on Carmen, Don José unravels. News reaches him - via his fiancée Micaela - that his mother is dying, and he nees to go home.

He vows to Carmen that she shall never leave him. Upon his return, he discovers Carmen and the handsome toreador Escamillo have begun a passionate affair, and that Carmen is no longer his. Angry and bitter, Don José kills her, and throws himself upon her dead body at the same moment the toreador makes the kill in the bullring.