Prom 52: Intelligent, vivid & satisfying account of Bizet’s Carmen from Rihab Chaied, Evan LeRoy Johnson & Anja Bihlmaier at Glyndebourne’s visit to the BBC Proms

Bizet: Carmen – Rihab Chaieb, Evan LeRoy Johnson, Glyndebourne Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Anja Bihlmaier – Glyndebourne Festival at BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/Andy Paradise )

Bizet: Carmen; Rihab Chaied, Evan LeRoy Johnson, Lukasz Goliński, Janai Brugger, director: Diane Paulus/Adam Torrance, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Anja Bihlmaier; Glyndebourne Festival at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Reviewed 29 August 2024

Strong cast, a stripped down yet intelligent production and superb conducting lead to a profoundly involving and musically satisfying performance

Glyndebourne Opera has been performing Bizet’s Carmen this Summer in a new production by Diane Paulus, with the lead roles double cast and with two conductors. Following the end of the run, the company brought the production to the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall on Thursday 29 August 2024. Anja Bihlmaier (the recently announce principal guest conductor with the BBC Philharmonic, who conducted the August performances at Glyndebourne) was the conductor with a cast that mixed the first cast Carmen, Rihab Chaieb [whom we saw as Charlotte in Zurich Opera’s production of Massenet’s Werther earlier this year, see my review], and the other principals from the second cast with Evan LeRoy Johnson as Don Jose, Lukasz Goliński as Escamillo and Janai Brugger as Micaëla, plus Dingle Yandell as Zuniga, Thomas Mole as Moralès, Elisabeth Boudreault as Frasquita, Kezia Bienek as Mercédès, Loïc Félix as Le Dancaïre, and François Piolino as Le Remendado, with the Glyndebourne Chorus and London Philharmonic Orchestra, Glyndebourne Youth Opera and members of Trinity Boys Choir. Adam Torrance directed, based on Diane Paulus’ production for the Glyndebourne Festival.

For all its extreme popularity, Carmen presents a series of challenges, the Spanish-isms and Opéra Comique element cannot be ignored and directorial decisions have to be made. But more than that, too often productions concentrate on what we might call the socialogical elements, creating intense drama at the expense of the whole. For all the difficulty of the work’s reception, Carmen is a carefully crafted drama that mixes tragedy with comedy and poignant moments, along with the need to entertain.

Bizet: Carmen – Lukasz Golinski, Dingle Yandell, Glyndebourne Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Anja Bihlmaier – Glyndebourne Festival at BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/Andy Paradise )

Reading reviews of Diane Paulus’ original productionn and seeing Adam Torrance’s semi-staging based on it, what impressed was the way that we had all the features from the libretto, without any adjustments. Torrance gave us a very straightforward and insightful modern-dress Carmen, stripped down but with all the elements including the lighter scenes in Act Two, and plenty of dancing. It provided a strong showcase for some vivid characters. There was dialogue too, not heaps, but more than in some productions; though no-one was credited for sound design, the dialogue was amplified which was probably sensible given the venue.

Anja Bihlmaier launched into a brisk and exciting account of the prelude, one which zipped along but had space for the more thoughtful moments. She impressed greatly, drawing out finely crisp playing from the orchestra whilst being a sympathetic accompanist for the singers. This was a performance that reflected the work’s origins at the Opéra Comique rather than a grand opera manqué.

Rihab Chaieb was a ballsy Carmen, using her sexuality as a weapon and giving as good as she got. There was nothing plush and overheated about her singing, this was vivid with plenty of lean tone and superbly full of character. She not only sounded as if she was singing French, but sounded French and the smoky way with the Habenera was lovely whilst the aria in Act Two where she entertains Don Jose was finely done, just the right amount of movement. For the first two acts, this Carmen was in charge, leading Don Jose by the nose, but when she got what she wanted, she found it wasn’t that at all. The rich fatalism in the second two acts was made to seem a logical progression from earlier, and Chaieb’s contribution to the trio in Act Three was wonderfully dark without making Carmen’s contribution seem like a different opera to that of Frasquita and Mercédès. In the final act, the pull of tension between Chaieb and Evan LeRoy Johnson’s Don Jose was thrilling. Simply done, yet this final scene was a triumph.

Bizet: Carmen – dancers, Glyndebourne Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Anja Bihlmaier – Glyndebourne Festival at BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/Andy Paradise )

Evan LeRoy Johnson was new to me and he certainly impressed. I liked the way that not only did he sing French creditably, but he never sounded as if he was trying to turn it into an Italian opera, a common problem with tenors in this role. He has the heft for the part, but also the ability to focus and fine the tone down. I am unclear whether Chaieb and Johnson performed together at Glyndebourne at all (there were in different casts), but their relationship fair crackled here. Johnson is a big man and used his size to great effect. His Don Jose was an ordinary man, and never had a complete breakdown, yet even in Act Two, you sensed the capability for violence, that he was far bigger than Chaieb’s Carmen. The duet in Act Two was finely done, and the way Johnson turned Don Jose from love-sick fool to obsessive stalker was masterly. Then in the final scene, he appears in a suit and tie with flowers, but ends strangling Carmen with said tie.

Whilst Lukasz Goliński was dressed in costume for a bull fight in Act Four, up to then his appearance was much more of a tatted, leather-jacketed ageing rocker and that was the image he projected. Vivid and to the point, Goliński created a strong, slightly dangerous character which made his behaviour in Act Three all the more believable. He sang his big number creditably.

Janai Brugger as Micaëla was a strong yet touching presence, you sense her psyching herself up each time. Her duet with Johnson in Act One was believable, the sense that romance might be a possibility rather than being a real presence, then in Act Three she successfully held the focus on herself when present on stage. Brugger really gave the impression that this Micaëla might be shaking inside but she was up for anything.

Bizet: Carmen – Rihab Chaieb, Loïc Félix, Kezia Bienek, François Piolino, Elisabeth Boudreault, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Anja Bihlmaier – Glyndebourne Festival at BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/Andy Paradise )

Elisabeth Boudreault and Kezia Bienek were contrasting and characterful as Frasquita and Mercédès, Their contributions in Act Two successfully leaned into the lighter aspects of these scenes, whilst the provided a foil and a contrast for Carmen in the remainder of the opera. Neither pulled focus, yet both successfully created distinct characters, making a real contribution.

Thomas Mole was a nicely swaggering Moralès with a wonderfully virile baritone voice that gave the character more depth than he really deserved. The way Mole’s Moralès sniffed Escamillo’s discarded shirt in Act Two made you wonder whether some sort of subtext was intended. Dingle Yandell’s finely sung but shitty Zuniga made a nice contrast and his come-uppance at the end of Act Two could not have happened to a nicer man!

Loïc Félix as Le Dancaïre, and François Piolino as Le Remendado provided the comic elements, bringing vivid character and sly wit to their performances, encourage the other performers to lighten things in the ensembles in Act Two, and giving an element of this to Act Three whilst never seeming to be in a different opera. What it gave was light and shade, both managed to give vivid character to their performances whether funny or serious.

Bizet: Carmen – Glyndebourne Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Anja Bihlmaier – Glyndebourne Festival at BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/Andy Paradise )

There were six dancers, two men and four women, who had big ensemble numbers at the openings of Acts Two and Four, the choreography seeming to arise naturally. Not Spanish at all, instead it was highly physical, vigorous and wonderfully engaging. All six participated in the whole production, one of the dancers was the barman in Act Two and used his physicality wonderefully in the fight scene, whilst the women vividly taunted the male chorus in Act One.

Torrance’s production used the stage very effectively, so that in Act One the male chorus was on the fore-stage whilst the women were out of reach on the raised level behind the orchestra. This use of the two different areas, with the orchestra in the middle, was very effective throughout.

The chorus was very physical throughout, whatever the scene, combining this with some thrilling tone and sophisticated moments. The large group of children participated with a will, so that their mock drill in Act One was a complete delight.

This was one of the most satisfying performances of Carmen that I have seen in a long time, the combination of Anja Bihlmaier’s intelligent and vivid direction with lead roles performed with the right element of style meant that musically this was more satisfying than I had expected, and a distance away from the grand opera version, thankfully.

The performance is available on BBC Sounds until 30 days after the end of the BBC Proms.