She lives by her own rules. He dies by them. Opera's hottest disaster couple.
This all-star cast is framed by Peter Hall’s gritty, realistic production and conducted by James Levine, who brings out all the surging emotion and gripping drama in Bizet’s score. At the center of the story is Agnes Baltsa, whose smoky mezzo is tailor-made for the gypsy Carmen, an independent woman who glories in obeying only her own rules, but who is haunted by fate. Superstar tenor José Carreras is Don José, the solider from a small town who catches Carmen’s eye and is destroyed by his growing obsession with her. Samuel Ramey is the charismatic matador Escamillo, who lures Carmen away from Don José with tragic result. Leona Mitchell is Micaëla, the simple girl from Don José’s hometown who cannot save him. March 21, 1987 Matinee Broadcast.
Acting
Baltsa's Carmen is pure danger—smoky, defiant, absolutely unforgettable.
Score
Levine conducts like the orchestra's on fire. That habanera hits different live.
Direction
Hall strips away opera fluff for something raw and uncomfortably intimate.
Director
Brian Large
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This 1987 Met broadcast captured Carreras at his peak, just before his 1988 leukemia diagnosis nearly ended his career.
Bizet's Carmen scandalized 1875 Paris with its 'immoral' heroine—Hall's production leans into that subversive energy rather than sanitizing it.
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