Music I Liked – Carmen

Carmen at Seattle Opera

This week has been all about Carmen for me. I am reviewing Seattle Opera’s new production elsewhere, but in preparation I’ve been listening to the music nonstop.

Carmen was the first opera I ever saw. In high school, my music teacher assigned the traveling production of Carmen (at the time my city didn’t have its own opera company) for extra credit. My only clear memory of the show was being startled awake by sound of a gunshot (which I now realize was the ending of Micaela’s aria when Don Jose catches Escamillo outside the bandits’ lair).

After this weekend, Carmen is one of my favorite operas, on par with Rigoletto. I have had Carmen’s “Habanera” stuck in my head since I heard since I heard it at Opera on Tap two weeks ago. And I will have the rest of the opera stuck in my head for a long time to come.