Full Cast Set For CARMEN Northern Ireland Opera Debut at Grand Opera House Belfast

Northern Ireland Opera has announced the first cast and creative team for the company’s performance of Georges Bizet’s Carmen. Directed by Artistic Director Cameron Menzies, this grand-scale production marks the national company’s first-time staging of Bizet's definitive work at Belfast's Grand Opera House in September.  Performances will run 12, 15, 17, 19 September.

The company will welcome back Harlem-born tenor Noah Stewart, a firm favourite with Belfast audiences. No stranger to the Grand Opera House stage, Stewart revisits the city following his towering performances as Rodolfo in La Bohème and Alfredo in La Traviata in 2021 and 2022 respectively. As a recording artist he has topped the UK Classical Album Charts and earned widespread international plaudits for his versatility. For this brand-new staging, he interprets the unravelling obsession of Don José, an iconic signature role opposite rising star, Carnegie Hall debutant, and Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition national finalist Ruby Dibble, who steps into one of opera’s most iconic roles as the fatalistic, fiercely independent Carmen.

Bringing local star power to Bizet’s masterpiece are three Northern Ireland Opera favourites. Celebrated soprano Mary McCabe portrays Micaëla, infusing the role with lyrical warmth and dramatic vulnerability. Completing Carmen’s mischievous inner circle are mezzo-soprano Jenny Bourke as Mercédès and soprano Petra Wells as Frasquita, whose mesmerising duet of ‘One More Kiss’ with Lesley Garrett in last year’s Follies guarantees an exceptional showcase of home-grown talent. Further casting will be announced shortly.

Artistic Director Cameron Menzies says: “Great opera should move, challenge, and delight audiences in equal measure, and few works achieve that balance more successfully than Carmen. I have wanted to direct Carmen for many years, but I have always felt that it is a piece that demands the right moment. For Northern Ireland Opera, that moment is now. It is a work packed with extraordinary music, complex characters, and some of the most thrilling chorus writing in the repertoire. Over the last five years, we have been quietly building our exceptional chorus towards this challenge. However, this production is also an urgent opportunity to look at this tragic story through a modern lens, using our stage to confront the historic trope of the tragic heroine and address the vital, real-world conversations surrounding gender-based safety today.”

Steering the musical vision is Greg Arrowsmith, who returns to the company as Music Director following his triumphant direction of Follies last year to lead the 37-strong Northern Ireland Orchestra. Elevating the production's music narrative, Arrowsmith has also crafted new arrangements specifically for a unique instrumental quintet, who will perform in partnership with the orchestra in the pit. This in-character on-stage ensemble will add an intimate, immersive layer to the opera's legendary score.

The production’s visual and physical world is shaped by a stellar contingent of Northern Ireland Opera’s creative collaborators, including set designer Niall McKeever. Marking his sixth major collaboration with the company, McKeever, an Irish Times Theatre Award nominee for Into the Woods, brings his signature bold and large-scale vision to Belfast’s Grand Opera House, following celebrated designs for Follies, Eugene Onegin, Tosca, and La Traviata. Joining him is West End choreographer Jennifer Rooney (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Into the Woods, Once), who returns to craft the production’s dynamic movement. This creative team also includes the return of lighting designer Jake Wiltshire, with Nuala Campbell lending her expert eye as wig and make-up designer.

Ciaran Scullion, Head of Music and Opera, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, says: “The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is proud to be principal funder of Northern Ireland Opera who make their return to the Grand Opera House stage this September for Bizet’s operatic masterpiece, Carmen.  The work this company produces is outstanding, critically acclaimed, award-winning, and truly has an excellent international reputation.  The company not only offers lead roles to professional local singers but also provides opportunities for members of NI Opera’s Chorus Development Programme to grow their artistic talent by working alongside world-class talent.  I highly recommend you see the show and support the work of this incredible company.”

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