Created by: Audrey Babcock
An homage to Bizet's Carmen mezzo-soprano Audrey Babcock weaves legends of the Old World into a 21st-century musical tapestry that spans generations and genres—from classical to tango, medieval to modern. With musical partner, guitarist, arranger, Andrés Vadin.
Audrey Babcock - Voice, Flute, Percussion, Co-arranger
Andres Vadin - Flamenco Guitar, Percussion, Arranger
Original Production
California Institute of the Arts 2017
Additional Production dates
November 2019 - Delaware Opera
Santa Cecilia Orchestra 2022
August 2022 and August 2023 - Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater
April 2024 - Opera Southwest
Duration: Flexible program. One to two hours, with or without intermission
Director's Note
Carmen. There is no more iconic woman in Operatic history. She is so singled out that her image has become mainstream and is synonymous with the Femme Fatale. There is no image, no legend, no creature, more riddled with weaponized femininity then my beloved, Carmencita. Carmen’s origin story is rich—it has been written that the author of the original novella, Prosper Mérimée, derived his inspiration for this illusory gypsy from a real-life Sephardic Jew. Though Jews were exotic at the time, Gypsies had a more solid reputation for nefariousness and made a more daring choice for his Parisian newspaper-reading audience. With will explore her Sephardic roots, singing in Ladino or “Judeo Spanish”, similar to ancient Castilian Spanish. We will play with the rhythms, textures, and accents of the marginalized people of the diaspora, and most of all we will sing and cry out for the misunderstood experience of being fiercely female in a time that saw a woman’s strength as something dangerous, dark, and destined for annihilation.
MEDIA
