A gripping “Carmen” at West Bay Opera

June 2, 2018

Artistic Director José Luis Moscovich led an out-sized production of the opera Carmen on Saturday, June 2 in the South Bay’s intimate Lucie Stern Theater. Brought to musical life by French composer Georges Bizet from a novel by Prosper Mérimée, this steamy pot-boiler was the backdrop for one of the best casts that I have heard here.

And hearing that cast in this modest theater was a triumph of nuance over the usual operatic excess, with the title character’s range and deft pianissimos immersing us into the experience. Although that experience was, admittedly, a little creepy, like the TV reality shows of our own day (think “Teen Mom” meets “Cheaters”), we were asked to let go of our morals and descend into the minds of a careless femme fatale and her abusive lover, but it was a descent that was propelled by truly divine music.

Rather than the usual reduction of an orchestral score, Moscovich simultaneously conducted a pit orchestra of strings and two additional groups of winds and brass on two-level tiers on the left and right edges of the stage. This enabled him to do justice to the music while enjoying the acoustics and immediacy of the house, and it was particularly apt for the colorful flavors of Bizet’s orchestration.

Set in Southern Spain, Carmen explored the staccato rhythms of Flamenco and the middle-east influenced tonalities of Spanish Gypsies, and all immersed in a very French school of music. Bizet added a flair for mood and color, weaving “leitmotifs” through the whole that we associate with each character, much as Wagner was then exploring in neighboring Germany.

And so the ability to present the full score was essential to this production, with lovely flute duets and English horn, oboe and bassoon harmonies. The tiered performers is a strategy that Moscovich has employed over the last several years, and it did not interfere with the on-stage action, as those musicians in the wing tiers were shrouded in darkness with their stands carefully back lit. (Actually, I would have been just as happy to have them spotlit so that I could watch them and go more deeply into Bizet’s evocative score.)

Nikola Printz starred as Carmen, the Gypsy whose heart was as unfettered as the breezes, singing with a mesmerizing and earthy mezzo. There was a streak of cruelty in her freedom, in her faithfulness to her own heart. She inhabited a passion that was completely without compassion… but fiery! Her big top notes burned down into soft embers that penetrated right through us.

Salvatore Atti played the moth to her flame as Don José, a tenor with a dry and dusty beauty. In his big solo he made it dangerously easy to empathize with him, even as he stalked the woman he loved (or loved to hate).

And you probably can guess how these things would end, with jealousy and the straitjackets of society creating a power imbalance that fueled the war between the sexes. After Carmen dropped him for a hot new Toreador, Don José’s obsession spiraled inevitably downward into murder.

That Toreador was Krassen Karagiozov, a svelte baritone who is always a delight around the Bay Area. Tall and dangerously handsome, his larger-than-life voice was perfect for a bull fighter who is completely full of himself, and he delivered the well-known song of the Toreador with panache. And that, of course, helped propel Don José’s jealousy.

Arrayed against that train wreck, and giving it definition, is Micaela, a chaste country girl who is in love with Don José. María Fernanda Brea sang that soprano role with delicate upper notes and  a winsome manner. Those wholesome hiccups matched Printz’ simmering growls, underlining the poles of love.

Supporting this artful quartet was Kiril Havezov as the Lieutenant of Dragoons, the voice of the Law and a favorite Bay Area Bass. Four more excellent singers took the smaller roles: Maya Kherani and Anna Yelizarova as fellow gypsy singers (and really good dancers!), and baritone Jackson Beaman and tenor Carmello Tringali as partisans or dragoons as needed.

Bizet, who died of a heart attack at the age of 37 before finding out that his opera was a huge success, wrote several of the World’s most popular opera arias, including Carmen’s sultry “Habanera,” where descending half-steps would lead one to agree that, “love is a rebellious bird/that none can tame… A gypsy child/ that has never known the law.” Printz was excellent here, sultry and commanding.

This production of Carmen was sold out for all four performances, and completes this season in style. Next October they will open with the much-loved La Boheme, with tickets and information available at westbayopera.org.

—Adam Broner

West Bay Opera delivers a fresh and fiendish 'Carmen'

Georges Bizet's "Carmen" is one of the most frequently performed operas in the Western canon, so does the world really need another staging of it? Music lovers (and critics) should be forgiven for asking that question, but would do better to ask instead: What can an opera production company do with an old war horse? Look to the current production by West Bay Opera for the answer.

West Bay Opera, which has come to establish itself as a regional company that insists on telling old stories in new ways, has given us a "Carmen" that is fresh and, in the case of the title character, fiendish. Under the leadership of general director Jose Luis Moscovich, West Bay also continues, with this fine production, its commitment to bringing first-rate singers to its stage and delivering a riveting show.

First staged in 1875, "Carmen" spins the tale of a young, seductive and fiercely independent Gypsy woman who works in a cigarette factory in Seville, Spain. The target of her desire as the opera opens is the military corporal Don Jose. So far, so what?

But this Carmen, as portrayed by the smoldering mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz, is not the capricious, spoiled child portrayed in typical opera productions – a beautiful girl who knows the power she has over men and just wants what she wants. She is a formidable woman who demands what she wants, and will not take no for an answer.

After Carmen flings a flower at the unsuspecting Don Jose, whom she has just seen for the first time outside the cigarette factory, the feelings that action stirs in the corporal prompts him to pronounce her a sorceress. With some productions of this opera, that characterization feels whimsical, merely an indication of the magical power of raw sexual attraction. With this Carmen, the referenced sorcery is black magic. The dark palette Printz calls upon both vocally and in her acting draws out the menace of a reckless and dangerous woman. Her portrayal colors the story with undertones of destructive energy. This is not a Carmen whose actions might be excused as youthful foolishness.

Printz gives a stellar performance in this production, as does the superb tenor Salvatore Atti as Don Jose. Among the highlights of the performance are duets these two fine singers share and deliver with all the appropriate emotion and drama of the moment.

In addition to the lead singers, baritones Kiril Havezov as Zuniga and Krassen Karagiozov as Escamillo are stand-outs. Both men not only sang their roles with precision and appropriate force, but they also had a commanding presence on the stage – fitting for a military officer and a renowned toreador.

Stage direction by Richard Harrell was up to his usual standards – he had previously directed fine productions of West Bay's "Tosca" and "La Traviata."

The orchestra, with Moscovich conducting, performed its duties with precision and pizzazz, offering a fitting backdrop to the on-stage drama.

In keeping with West Bay's efforts to update the stories that unfold in its productions, the setting of "Carmen" was 1930s Seville, during the Spanish Civil War. The political upheaval of those days wasn't readily apparent except for some Franco posters in the plaza, but the theme transformed an otherwise vague gypsy smuggling enterprise into an antifascist operation, with the revolutionaries gathering late at night in a camp outside the city.

According to Moscovich, ticket sales for "Carmen" have been robust, but there may be seats left for the remaining two performances this weekend. If so, you'd do well to grab those seats and hang on for a soaring ride.