Thinking of an opera made me picture a bunch of old people in tuxedos and gowns watching some lady in a fancy dress with a piercing voice singing along to music. Not anymore. This production of Carmen created a captivating portrayal of a love triangle and all the turmoil that one is composed of. After watching Carmen, my perception of opera has completely changed. It is no longer something I believe is neither only for a certain age group, nor for a certain socioeconomic class. I am not affluent, and barely eighteen, and I was thoroughly captivated by the entire performance. Another thing I was concerned with was how I would be able to understand the plot while not understanding a single word they spoke, but even that dilemma was resolved with the subtitles being timed very well with the performance.

One of the most intriguing features of the performance of Carmen was that it seemed as if you were watching a movie. The way that the lighting, the scenery, and the people looked gave the feeling of watching a motion picture. This is one of the strongest reasons why the set was so incredible. The façade of the broken down building looked so realistic that I would not be surprised if it was composed of real stone. The lighting, in some spectacular way, made you feel like you were in that time period, which is why I felt like it was a movie; I have never experienced that            with lighting in a live performance.

The clothing was the next part that also changed my view of how a stereotypical opera should look. For example, Carmen was not wearing the typical gown I had in mind when thinking of an opera. Of course she is a gypsy and, therefore, her costume had to match her character. Her clothing was very impressing because of the flow they gave to all her movements. The clothing reflected her charmingly smooth personality.

The director made really great use of the stage he had and of all the actors. There were moments that there must have been fifty actors on stage and they all simultaneously had a task to accomplish. All of their parts have no actual dialogue, and I presume they also did not have very detailed stage directions. I am not sure if they were given mini dialogues to actually carry out, or it was based on improvisation off of a certain topic, but even for improvisation, so much detailed work has to go into directing them so that they can all work together cohesively. Therefore, the director’s use of the stage and the placement of the actors were carried out very effectively.

As the name of the opera hints, the main character is Carmen and she is truly the star of the show. From the moment she comes out from under the stage, until she is stabbed by Don José, not a glance is taken away from her. Her talent is impeccable from the obvious singing to the dancing to the acting. Her empowering character comes out with every movement she makes. A really significant aspect of her opera singing, as Professor Healey pointed out, was that she was able to sing as she bent over to wash her legs. Compressing your diaphragm in that way makes hard to sing, yet when listening to her vocals there was not a falter in how she sang a single note. After watching this performance and being taken on a journey to a different time and place, I gladly await my next trip to the opera!

Walking into the Metropolitan Opera House, my expectations were high. Upon initially arriving, I was mesmerized by the beauty of the room, the high ceilings with grand chandeliers, and the outfits that people had put together. I climbed what seemed like hundreds of stairs and finally pushed through the crowd to find my seats in the family circle, otherwise known as the poor people section. “Alright so this isn’t so bad, maybe we’ll still have a clear shot of the performers,” I thought. Boy, was I wrong. The performance began and there I was squinting away. I’d like to give a big shout out to my binoculars. Thank you for giving me the gift of sight. Those tiny ants running around surely came to life. The only problem was that I couldn’t read the subtitles while using the binoculars, so I had to choose whether to see who was speaking or to understand what they were saying. Either way, I wasn’t really into the plot. The whole cliché love story isn’t really my thing. He loves her and she loves him then she doesn’t love him and so on…Who cares?! I definitely didn’t.

I must say though when my eyelids began to droop from the boring plot, there were many other elements that kept me interested. My particular favorite was the music. All of the instruments came together to create a beautiful array of sounds. Bizet’s Carmen consists of some of the greatest operatic works of all time including the Habanera, and the Toreador. It even inspired other composers to compose several fantasies later on for violin. It was also really cool how everything depended on the conductor. To me, he was the star of the show. With a flick of his wrist, the music would sound and this would cue the actors and the lights to get into position. I also really enjoyed the singing. The performers’ voices were so powerful and they truly moved me. The costumes that people wore were also really fitting with their characters. In particular, at the end of the opera when all of the actors and actresses came out, there were really creative costumes. When Carmen went to Escamillo’s bull fighting, her black gown with the red straight trailed behind her as she walked across the stage keeping her head held high, taking her last breaths of air. She kept her poise and character wanting to die as a free woman rather than giving in to Don Jose.

Overall, I’m glad I had the chance to attend an opera. Although I probably wouldn’t go see it again because of the high price of the tickets, the difficulty to see the performers, and my lack of understanding about what was going on, it was a one-time experience that I won’t forget. I personally wasn’t a big fan of the opera, but that doesn’t mean that everyone my age has the same feelings as me. For instance, my roommate is obsessed with Carmen and when I told her that I had gone to see it she booked her tickets to go see it again, for her third time. Yeah, most of the audience was older, but opera really varies from person to person and that doesn’t go to say that it is exclusively for the older crowd. Opera has been around since the 16^th century, and it definitely isn’t going to die anytime soon.

Ah, the sweet joy of sitting in the “Family Circle”. In all seriousness though, there are seats worse than those of the “Family Circle”. I’m not sure if you can still refer to them as seats since they’re standing spots in the very last row.

Seeing Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera hasn’t been my first experience at the opera. My parents are both frequenters of the Metropolitan Opera House and drag me along every once in a while. Let’s just say, mom has an entire album on her phone dedicated to pictures of me sleeping at the opera. This time, I promised myself, would be different. I would stay awake the entire time. My problem tends arise after the intermission. It’s the end of the night. It’s so dark. The music is so soothing. But not this time, sleep would not get the best of me; during the intermission I got a cup of coffee.

If one were to call the opera a dying art, I would understand them. Movies made their debut in the 30’s and were able to gain popularity because of their financial availability over live performances. But truthfully I think it goes beyond the fact that operas are expensive. Opera’s require a lot of brainwork. I’m not saying that it’s a not enjoyable form of entertainment; I’m saying that it’s not a mindless form of entertainment. It’s not a romantic comedy you could have on in the background while having a discussion and still be able to catch the all the details of the movie. You really have to invest yourself in the performance. The performance is in a language you aren’t fluent in, but even when it is you have to read the subtitles (I’m a fluent Russian speaker and when I saw Eugene Onegin at the MET, I caught maybe a total of four words). The plot is usually pretty intricate, often containing love polygons, but it’s not all bad; reading the synopsis in the playbill is always helpful. In addition to that, being a personal of limited knowledge on classical music makes it difficult to identify the character by voice, which becomes necessary when you are sitting so high up. I have to admit though, this time when there were two male characters on the stage I tried to pay attention to the distinction between their voices and began to just barely be able to distinguish them. Something I learned from the San Diego Opera Podcast about Don Jose, is that the singing also tells a lot about character development. It continues to intensify when you take the scenery into consideration. The scenery of the Metropolitan Opera House is always so beautiful and when you can’t seem to catch on to the plot you could spend the entirety of the performance admiring the costumes and the set. This specific feature that intrigued me this time was the stage, particularly in the final act. The stage appeared to be intentionally higher on one side, giving the scenery a sense of dimensionality. I wasn’t sure whether the stage was actually lifted or it was an optical illusion made possible by the use of lighting. All in all, I would say operas are demanding. They demand you to be entirely present in the performance. You have to have the plot in the back of your mind, you have to read the subtitles and listen to the singing and the orchestra and manage to see visuals on the stage. All that being said, if you truly submerge yourself in the performance it becomes less overwhelming and more enjoyable. I don’t know if I would have enjoyed the performance as much as I did if this had been my first opera. I’m starting to think that perhaps opera is an acquired taste.

I would go back to the opera, I would even come back to see Carmen. I can’t imagine watching it for a second time and feeling bored; I feel like with each viewing I would notice something I missed previously. I wouldn’t be able to tell you whether or not from a technical stand point the performance was well executed but I could tell you that if there intent was to tell a story with emotion evident in vocal projection, they were successful.

When hearing the word opera, for some people what immediately comes to mind is three hours of mind numbing pain and boredom. I on the other mind was actually really excited to see the performance of Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera House. Especially so because to me the opera always seemed like something that was expensive, that only the wealthy had the privilege to enjoy. However, after experiencing it myself that view changed.

Walking into the MET one of the things I was really excited for was the orchestra. The only prior knowledge I had of the play was performing “Habanera” in the 11^th grade. The one thing I can say is I’ll probably never play it as well as they did. The music was just amazing. The crescendos in the music to show the rise of emotion in the actors as they were signing, as well the decrescendos to pianissimo as the play takes an emotional turn were all just fantastic. Some people don’t realize how important the music is in media, and that idea for me was only reinforced at the opera. For the first half of the play I sat in the orchestra section, all the way at that back because I had arrived a few minutes late. Even though I couldn’t see well and didn’t put my subtitles on (I didn’t know how), I could tell what was going on because of the music. When the dynamics changed I knew to pay close attention because something was going to happen, the storyline was going to shift in a new direction. I knew when the music was fast paced and loud the scene was a happy one and thankfully no one would die. The opposite could have been said in the climax where Carmen is killed, all wavering thoughts of whether Don Jose would really do it were squashed, the music told it all.

One of my favorite pieces of the show had to be “Toreador”, because the music was so lively and entertaining. I also must mention the amazing performance by Ildar Abdrazakov as Escamillo, his voice was perfect for the character. He wasn’t overly loud or annoying, it fit because his character is one of a matador that the village people love and respect, which I got from his performance. That’s probably why it surprised me at the end when some of my classmates booed when he took a bow. Whatever, people are free to their opinions. An interesting thing I found out about the show when I got home was that there are actually two singers playing the titular role of Carmen. After seeing some of the other, I was happy that I got to see Anita Rachvelishvili because her performance was so commanding and convincing as Carmen. It was easy to see how her character had such an effect on Don Jose and Escamillo. Compared to the other actress,(videos of both below) Elina Garanca, Anita’s voice just has more emotion that made it seem less like an act and more realistic.

After I got home that night and was in my room I couldn’t help but notice that when telling my mother about it I told her that maybe we should go together one day, and that she’d really like it. Then I thought how crazy it was that just a few days ago I was so excited to get the chance to see something students my age (and class) normally wouldn’t be able to. Now I was all. let’s go, it’s not even that expensive! I think people have this preconceived notion that the opera is such an expensive thing when it really isn’t. That to go you need a good seat which can cost from 155 to 340 dollars. I for one didn’t really care that I was sitting in the family circle. Once the show started I just focused on enjoying myself. That for me changed the way I saw the opera and any other art performances like it. The actors and crew members aren’t doing it so they can look at the crowd and say, oh there are the rich people and there all the others at the top with the cheap seats. No, it is not about that, it is about presenting something to the general public that they can enjoy. For me, if the opera was truly a selective thing where only the rich and wealthy could go, then maybe the MET wouldn’t offer things such as the family circle and 30 dollar tickets. Now I know that the good seats are expensive now, but trust me, an art performance isn’t exactly a free business either. Those actors and cast members need money just as much as we do.

What I’m trying to say in all this garble is that the opera is something that anyone can enjoy it if they are willing to let go of social differences and pay attention to what is really important; a few hours away from our tough lives to immerse ourselves in art that is truly entertaining.

Being that I am a classical mezzo-soprano singer myself, walking into the Metropolitan Opera to watch Carmen made me extremely excited. Since my junior year of high school, I had always wanted to watch the opera Carmen, especially since I sang as her in one of my high school musicales. I felt as though finally getting to watch it live in the biggest opera house in the world would be one of the greatest learning experiences for me, and it was. In fact, I was so moved by the production that at some points, I even got emotional, especially since performing the role of Carmen has remained one of my dreams since I last performed as her in high school.

(Above is the video of me performing as Carmen. I’m in the middle, wearing black. We’re singing the quintet called, “Nous avons en tete une affaire” which is performed in act II of Carmen. **sorry for the horrible quality**)

As soon as the show began, there was only one character I was anticipating to listen to, and that was Carmen. I already knew about what her entrance would be like since I had already watched and listened to the famous aria “Habanera” numerous times on youtube by different opera singers. However, I was wondering how this opera singer in particular, Anita Rachvelishvili, would interpret it—and once she began singing, I was quite surprised. Anita Rachvelishvili left me speechless with the way she sensually sang the famous aria. Her rich and dark colored voice, use of dynamics, and acting in this piece gave me goosebumps all over and left me on the edge of my seat. What made her performance of this piece so unique to me was how well she sang it quietly. I originally expected it to be sung in a mezzo-forte dynamic, however, she sang it more pianissimo—which I felt lured the audience in even more. Her acting in this piece was also quite interesting to me. The way she touched her leg and washed it over a bucket of water, was a little weird at first, but sure did capture the idea of how “sexy” the character of Carmen is supposed to be. By the end of her performing this aria, I could definitely understand why everyone falls in love with Carmen. She is her own woman, “a rebellious bird that nobody can tame,” and a diva.

As the show went on, I continued to find everything to be wonderful. All of the singers in this production were phenomenal and along with Carmen, I was also greatly moved by the woman who played Micaela named Anita Hartig. Although her role was small, every time she appeared, her light soprano voice would make my eyes widen. The sadness she conveyed in her appearance in Act III, singing “Air de Micaela,” left me in awe and it was amazing to me how well she sang those high notes so subtly and lusciously. Along with her, I also thought the man who sang as Don Jose named Aleksandrs Antonenko, was incredible as well. In the end, when he was desperately trying to win Carmen back in the final scene, I felt as though his emotions were so raw. He showed the desperation he had for Carmen effectively, especially in the way he passionately sang to her, trying to win her back. His performance with Carmen in that final scene, although very sad, was also very stirring and showed the audience just how crazy Don Jose was for Carmen.

Overall, I think everything about this opera was marvelous and I would definitely go back to the opera to watch even more different productions, just like I have in the past. Although expensive, I believe opera is for everyone. I wish it was more accessible to people in every class because it is an art form which showcases how incredible the human voice can be through romance, comedy, and tragedy. It is also an art form which I feel can musically educate many through the different languages it is sung in and through the numerous ways the music is written and performed. There are so many amazing and interesting components involved in opera that should be known to everyone, and because of this I hope opera never dies. It is too grand of an art form, which can educate many about classical music, to die.

*The title quote is from Habanera, one of Carmen’s arias.*

I had really high expectations for my most recent trip to the opera to see Carmen because opera was nothing really new to me; I sing opera and I had seen other operas before, including Hansel and Gretel, The Little Prince, and Carmen once before. So when I heard tickets to the opera that I would not have to pay for, I thought to myself, “sign me up!”

Since I had seen Carmen before, I hoped to focus more on the different aspects of the performance, rather than my subtitles and the plot. Okay, so I admit that I did turn my subtitles on, but I promise that I was not watching them the whole time (just like seventy-five percent of the time…). However, since I did know what was going on, I got to appreciate the costuming, scenery, and (my personal favorite) the music.

I really loved the costumes; especially the peasant/gypsy character costumes and Carmen’s outfits. Being up in the “family circle,” it was hard to actually pay attention to the details of the costumes, but I will comment on what I could see. The costumes at the gypsy party scene (which I will talk about later), were so fantastic. I cannot say that I have ever seen any actual nineteenth century Spanish gypsies, but the actors’ styling was exactly what I would have pictured in my mind. I looked up a picture on the Metropolitan Opera House’s website, and they had a great picture of those costumes. I was amazed to see that, although they looked so simple from where I was sitting, the costumes were actually very intricate and detailed. And Carmen’s costumes. Wow. I just want to point out that I was extremely amused that she took off one piece of her costume in every scene she was in. I thought it was funny, but that might just be me. Anyway, I just thought Carmen, played by Anita Rachvelishvili, looked fabulous, and you could tell she knew it. The costumes were perfect for the character, but I guess they would have to be because they would not pay a costume designer to do a so-so job. Her costumes were sensual without being extremely revealing and just beautiful. Especially her last dress. Wow. It was just stunning. Plus, she was being thrown around in it and everything, and not once did she trip over that train. Obviously, I really liked the costumes.

I was mystified by the scenery. First, I want to talk about the curtain with the red rip (I do not really know what I would call it). I thought it was very interesting visually, but I do not really know what the intention of it was. Maybe I missed something, but if anyone else figured it out, please PLEASE let me know! But even though I did not know what it was all about, I still enjoyed it. At the very least, it gave me something to talk about. Moving on to the main scenery. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think it was all the same structure, just rotated depending on the scene? Either way, it was really impressive because it looked so real. I thought it was a great idea for the whole thing to rotate, especially since the brief pauses between the acts were, as the name would suggest, very brief; it probably really cut down on scene-changing time, compared to if the structures had been removable instead.

I feel a special kind of happiness when I talk about the music in Carmen, and I do not just mean the singing. Clearly, the orchestra was the real MVP of the night. I was able to pick out individual instruments, but none of them were to obvious that they upset the blend of sounds. I did think that the orchestra overpowered the singers a little bit at times, but I wasn’t even mad because the accompaniment was beautiful. I said I would talk about the gypsy party scene, so here it goes. I especially loved this scene because the music did not just come from the orchestra. The actors on stage were doing a dance where they would clap and stomp their feet and it really captured my interest because it was not exactly aligned with the music so it added a little something extra to the performance. I believe that it was the first scene after a brief pause or intermission (but I could be wrong), so it helped refocus the audience’s attention on the performance. The soloists were definitely amazing. The man who played Don Jose had such a beautiful voice; when he started singing, a quiet “yas” escaped me. Personally, I thought there was more to be desired from the woman who played Micaela; I sometimes could not hear her well and I was not as impressed as I could have been. Maybe that is just coming from me, being a soprano myself, and having heard many other soprano opera singers. I don’t know, her voice just sounded very typical to me, but a man sitting one row over from me was really enthusiastic about her and kept shouting “Bravo!” every time she appeared on the stage. I was extremely appreciative of the bass voices and the soprano 1 voices in the chorus; the bass voices because I do not come by too many of them and I love basses, and the soprano 1 voices because they had such control over their voices and did not sound strained at all on those high notes. So shout out to you guys. And finally, Carmen. Thank you, Anita Rachvelishvili. Rachvelishvili played the part perfectly. If I had to imagine the voice that would be perfect for the part, it would be hers. She had such control over her voice and such a beautiful voice quality. And I do not remember which aria it was in, but she did this fantastic crescendo, then decrescendo, then crescendo again, ALL IN ONE BREATH. I was envious at that point, since my breath control is terrible. There was just nothing I disliked about her. The music in general was just on a whole other level, for me. It was just so amazing, I felt like I wanted to be up there singing with the performers.

I feel like I need to talk about the character Carmen. She knows she is a hot mama and she is working it to her advantage. She literally had men on their knees for her. Carmen was using her womanly charm to getting stuff done and messing with all the men. Basically, I aspire to be her. I just really admired that she, in the words of Miley Cyrus, “can’t be tamed” by any man. Before she was killed she triumphantly declared that “Carmen was born free and she will die free.” What a woman.

The opera is a great experience, which is definitely not just for an older crowd. Of course, when I was asking two elderly women which building the opera was in to make sure I was going to the right place, they condescendingly pointed me to the middle building. With that said, I think that young people might only get turned off by the opera because of the elderly audience members who are trying to keep it for themselves. They almost make you feel like you do not deserve to be there in a way; they look at you with an air of superiority as if any “youngster” is an uncultured swine and they act as if you are personally inconveniencing them by being there. They must be at war with themselves over the fact that there are children in the opera. Overall, I was shocked to see that there was a significant population of younger people at the opera, not counting the student groups.

But is opera a dying art form? I think not. Personally, I think there are more people studying opera now than in recent years. At Queens College, we have the Aaron Copland School of Music, where vocal majors train in classical music (I cannot confirm that for instrumentalists, as I do not actually know any). Performing arts high schools teach opera. There is at least one ten year old girl on some talent show every season who sings opera. To me, that does not sound like an art form on its way out.

The gypsy costumes/party scene I was talking about. I got this image from the Metropolitan Opera House website. Please note that this is from a past performance of Carmen.

As the show began I tried to focus on the stage. I turned on my subtitles and looking around I saw no one else’s subtitles turned on. They’ll turn them on later. A short while later I noticed that everyone’s subtitles were still off. I must be doing this wrong. Should I turn my subtitles off? I must be a noob at watching opera…No no no its not that their subtitles are off, their subtitles aren’t working! Wow I am the only one in this whole row with subtitles; I must have gotten a really special seat. I wonder if the others are all reading from my subtitles. It wasn’t until the break when I leaned over to my neighbors seat and realized that everyone had subtitles.

I did not enjoy sitting through those three hours. An hour into the show, I was confused and bored. I started to notice irrelevant things like the exit signs on both sides of the stage, the chipped paint on the ceiling and how uncomfortable and stiff I felt.

Most of the time I didn’t know what exactly was going on. I couldn’t tell who was singing most of the time because we were so far away. I found it annoying to look back and forth from the stage to the subtitles. I would of rather watched the opera in a movie format. Also, I don’t see the point of including the acrobats who performed before and in the middle of the show. I think the opera was longer than it had to be. I found it boring and on top of that the plot wasn’t interesting or realistic. Everything was overly romanticized and exaggerated. I think the opera had no real message or purpose other than entertainment. Moreover, I personally don’t find the sound of opera singing appealing although I am sure the performers hit all the right notes and had great voices. But I will say that stage design was interesting. I thought the rotating walls and change in scenery was pretty cool. Also I was impressed at how fast they changed the scenery.

Because of the typical cost of the tickets, operas cater to the higher class since they make up most of the audience and they are the ones who fund the operas. I think most of the viewers were older, educated adults. I don’t think that the uneducated and low classes wouldn’t be particularly drawn to operas; rather they would find something like “A Sucker Emcee” more appealing. But I don’t think it’s solely a matter of class it is also one of personal preference, as I am sure there are rich people who abhor operas and poor people who adore them.

Overall, I would not recommend the opera to anyone nor would I consider revisiting it.