Born free, die free... La la la carme

(Top image) © Michiharu Okubo

Enjoy casually! Life with concerts
File.5 Bizet's opera "Carmen"
(Mitsuzo Mori / Music writer)

Carmen, who works in a tobacco factory in Seville, Spain, is the object of men's admiration for her bewitching charm. When she starts singing during her break, the men around her and her coworkers cheer her on. When José, a serious soldier, pretends not to notice, Carmen, perhaps annoyed or concerned, provokes him by throwing a bright red flower at him.
Carmen is arrested by the police after injuring a colleague in a fight. The man in charge of escorting her to prison is the earnest Jose. He is easily seduced by Carmen's flirtations, hoping to get her released.

"Oh, you really love me!"

Afterwards, Jose has a dispute with his superior and is unable to return to the military, so he and Carmen take refuge with a shady smuggling gang.
However, Carmen is fickle, and her love interest is the handsome bullfighter Escamillo.
In a corner of the bullring, Jose stabs Carmen to death when she stubbornly refuses to get back together with him, even though he has a knife in his hand.

Carmen is a masterpiece opera by French composer Bizet.
This is a truly miraculous opera in which the music, story, and characters all come together.

Carmen sings "Habanera" during a break at the factory.
If you chase them, they run away, if you run away they chase you
That's what love is like, I'm a bird of the wild
No matter how many times I listen to it, it gets my heart racing and my spine tingling.
"It would be dangerous if he fell in love with me"...! © Michiharu Okubo

Escamillo's bullfighter song is extremely heroic and cool.
Micaela, the fiancée of the earnest Jose, sings of the sadness of a sincere and unrequited love.
Passionate flamenco is scattered throughout.

When the former Bolshoi Ballet's Prima Plisetskaya produced a ballet version of "Carmen," she apparently asked two of the great Soviet composers of the time, Shostakovich and Khachaturian, to compose new music. However, it is a famous story that both Shostakovich and Khachaturian refused to compose music, fearing that Bizet's music was so highly refined and so well-known as the music of "Carmen."
You can't write a bad song... © Michiharu Okubo

And then the climax.
Jose presses for reconciliation with a bold and feminine attitude.
In the background, the hustle and bustle of the bullring where Escamillo is likely performing intertwines with music with a somewhat ominous atmosphere.

"Carmen obeys no one, she is born free and dies free."

Carmen speaks out.
The ending is tragic, but not sad.
I felt a strange sense of relief, as if it was finally over.
Characters who lived well, loved well, and died well.

This spring, "Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Opera Project XVII ROHM CLASSIC SPECIAL" will be performed at Yokosuka Arts Theater.
© Michiharu Okubo

Anyway, I would like you to go to the theater and see it at least once.
It's an endless parade of famous songs that you've surely heard somewhere!
Before you know it, your heart is transported to the city of Seville, where you become part of the crowd surrounding Carmen and Escamillo and begin to soar freely!

This event has now ended.

Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Opera Project XVII ROHM CLASSIC SPECIAL
Bizet: Opera "Carmen "

Date: Thursday, March 21st (National Holiday)
Venue: Yokosuka Arts Theatre (Yokosuka Arts Theatre Grand Theatre)
Start: 15:00 (doors open at 14:00)
Ticket prices: S seats ¥25,000 / A seats ¥21,500 / B seats ¥17,000 / C seats sold out / D seats ¥8,000
*Preschool children are not allowed to enter.