Bizet's CARMEN Opens Tomorrow at the Met

Bizet's Carmen will open at the Met September 30 with Anita Rachvelishvili, the Georgian mezzo-soprano who has performed the role to acclaim around the world, reprising her interpretation of the title role. Spanish maestro Pablo Heras-Casado conducts the first eight performances of the run, which will also star Aleksandrs Antonenko as Don José, Anita Hartig as Micaëla, and Massimo Cavalletti and Ildar Abdrazakov as the swaggering toreador Escamillo. The production is by Richard Eyre, who also directed the Met's season-opening new staging of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. The November 1 matinee performance of Carmen will be transmitted worldwide as part of the Met's Live in HD series, which now reaches more than 2,000 movie theaters in 69 countries around the world.

In February, the opera returns with a new cast in the central roles. El?na Garan?a and Roberto Alagna reprise their acclaimed performances of Carmen and Don José, which they sang in the 2009 premiere of Eyre's staging. American soprano Ailyn Pérez and Hungarian bass-baritone Gábor Bretz will make their Met debuts as Micaëla and Escamillo, respectively. Jonas Kaufmann will sing two performances of Don José in March, in his only Met appearances this season. Hei-Kyung Hong sings Micaëla on October 17 and February 23.

Anita Rachvelishvili has sung the title role in Carmen with major opera companies around the world, including the Met in 2011 for her debut and again in 2012 and 2013; La Scala; the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Teatro Regio in Torino; Deutsche Oper Berlin; Bavarian State Opera; Arena di Verona; and Seattle Opera. Last season, she sang Konchakovna in the Met's new production of Borodin's Prince Igor. Her recent performances include Amneris in Aida at Arena di Verona and Detroit Opera, Lyubasha in The Tsar's Bride at Berlin State Opera, and the Principessa de Boullion in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur with Opera Orchestra of New York.

Anita Hartig made her Met debut last season as Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème, a role she has sung at La Scala, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Welsh National Opera and Paris Opera. Her other recent performances include Liù in Puccini's Turandot at Bavarian State Opera and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro at Vienna State Opera.

Aleksandrs Antonenko has sung four roles at the Met: the Prince in Dvo?ák's Rusalka for his 2009 debut; Luigi in Puccini's Il Tabarro; Grigory in a new production of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov; and, last season, Pollione in Bellini's Norma. His recent appearances with other opera companies include both Ghermann in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades and Radamès in Verdi's Aida at Zurich Opera; Samson in Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila at Rome Opera; Radamès at Vienna State Opera; and Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Massimo Cavalletti made his Met debut as Schaunard in La Bohème in 2010 and sang Marcello in the same opera with the company last season. His other recent performances include Ford in Verdi's Falstaff with Dutch National Opera, the Salzburg Festival, and Zurich Opera; Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Rodrigo in Verdi's Don Carlo at La Scala; and Marcello at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and Bavarian State Opera.

Ildar Abdrazakov currently stars in the title role of Richard Eyre's new staging of Le Nozze di Figaro, which opened the Met season. He sang his first Escamillo at the Met in 2013. His other roles at the Met have included the title character in last season's new production ofPrince Igor; the title role in the Met premiere of Verdi's Attila; Masetto, Leporello, and the title character in Don Giovanni; Dosifei in Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina; Enrico in the Met premiere of Donizetti's Anna Bolena; and the Four Villains in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann.

Pablo Heras-Casado made his Met debut last season leading Verdi's Rigoletto. He is the principal conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the principal guest conductor of Madrid's Teatro Real. This season, he also conducts Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at Dutch National Opera, La Traviata at the Baden-Baden Festival, and the world premiere of Mauricio Sotelo's El Público at Teatro Real.

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