LA TRAGÉDIE DE CARMEN to be Presented at Merola Opera Program

San Francisco’s Merola Opera Program will continue its 2026 season with La Tragédie de Carmen. This condensed adaptation of Georges Bizet’s Carmen, created by theatre director Peter Brook presents the opera in a raw and psychologically intense form, with a revised score edited by composer Marius Constant, and a libretto by French writer and dramatist Jean-Claude Carrière that more closely hews to the original Prosper Mérimée novella on which Bizet's opera was based. Two Merola alumnae, Conductor Stephanie Rhodes Russell (’09) and Director Mo Zhou (’15), lead this production, which focuses on the gripping tension between Carmen’s insistence on absolute freedom and Don José’s obsessive control. Prioritizing intimacy and inevitability over spectacle, the performance unfolds as an intimate tragedy driven by desire, jealousy, and fate.

La Tragédie de Carmen will be presented 7:00pm, Thursday, July 9, and 2:00pm, Saturday, July 11, 2026, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak St., San Francisco. La Tragédie de Carmen will be performed in French with English supertitles. For more information or to purchase tickets ($75; $25, ages 25 and under), the public may visit merola.org or call the San Francisco Box Office at 415-864-3330.

This production features a cast of rising opera artists from the 2026 Merola Opera Program, selected from a highly competitive international pool. These emerging singers represent the next generation of operatic talent, bringing fresh insight and vocal excellence to this powerful work. La Tragédie de Carmen stars Canadian mezzo-soprano Ariana Maubach in the title role as the free-spirited, defiant, and fiercely independent Carmen. The obsessive and jealous Don José will be portrayed by English tenor Charles Styles. Fresh off her Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition win, soprano Anna Thompson takes on the role of the gentle and compassionate Micaëla, while Mexican baritone Raúl Morales Velazco appears as the charismatic Escamillo. Tenor Ryan Bryce Johnson will perform the role of the military officer Zuniga; John Mburu portrays Garcia, Carmen’s husband, and tenor Logan Wager rounds out the cast as Lilas Pastia, the tavern and café owner.

Peter Brook was a highly influential theatre and film director whose work reshaped modern stagecraft through its emphasis on simplicity, clarity, and emotional truth. Rejecting overly ornate production styles, Brook championed what he called “empty space,” the idea that theatre only requires an actor, an audience, and a shared space for imagination to take hold. Across a career spanning more than seven decades, he directed Landmark Productions such as Marat/Sade, The Mahabharata, and his celebrated adaptation La Tragédie de Carmen, each reflecting his interest in distilling complex stories into their essential human and theatrical elements. Brook worked internationally, particularly in London and Paris, and was known for blending Western and non-Western performance traditions to explore universal themes of conflict, spirituality, and connection.

The creative team for La Tragédie de Carmen includes Stephanie Rhodes Russell (Conductor) and Mo Zhou (Director).

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