A beloved opera classic comes to the stage this weekend, courtesy of the Wilmington Concert Opera.
Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” is one of the most-performed operas in the world, with over 16,000 stagings this century and more than 600 performances each year by professional opera companies worldwide. One reason for its enduring popularity, says the Wilmington Concert Opera’s Artistic Director Kirsten Kunkle, is its iconic music.
“It's music that we all know,” she says. “It's music that we've heard in movies and on TV for our entire lives.”
Equally compelling, however, are the characters - Mercedes, Escamillo, Don José, and of course, Carmen herself. Kunkle says that director Kevin Patrick, who also sings the role of Escamillo, wanted to center the opera around empowering the women in the story.
“They are very much women that you can identify with,” she says. “If you are a woman coming to the opera, you will find characteristics in them that you can identify with that make you feel more empowered.”
That includes presenting the title character, Carmen - sung by Kunkle - as a complex person instead of a caricature.
“She's very bold with her intentions. She's extremely manipulative, and she also isn't going to let anyone control her,” Kunkle says.
That deep dive into the characters, aided by the intimacy of the spaces in which they will perform, will contribute to what Kunkle hopes is a meaningful - and different - performance of Bizet’s classic.
“I think because we have this intention to make this focus on the strong women, that is going to set us apart from other productions,” Kunkle says.
The Wilmington Concert Opera presents “Carmen” on Friday, November 13 at 7 pm and Sunday, November 15 at 2 pm at Covenant Community Services in Wilmington. Performances in Wilmington are free and open to the public.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
