Josè Maria Lo Monaco

A Séville, vers 1820. Devant la manufacture de tabac dont la cloche vient de sonner, les soldats de la garde montante se sont postés pour voir sortir les cigarières et surtout l'une d'entre elles, Carmen, une bohémienne, que la foule laisse passer en s'écartant. Hautaine et passionnée, elle se moque des hommes qui se pressent autour d'elle, leur chantant que "l'amour est un oiseau rebelle". Cependant, Carmen tente d'attirer l'attention de don José, le seul qui ne semble pas s'intéresser à elle.

In celebration of Verdi's 200th birthday in 2013, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence produced the composer's colorful masterpiece Rigoletto for the first time in its history. Verdi expert Gianandrea Noseda conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in a production that marked the return of the Canadian stage director Robert Carsen to the festival following a 17 year hiatus. Carsen sets his interpretation of this classic opera in the cutthroat world of the circus. Based on Victor Hugo's play Le roi s’amuse, Verdi's opera in three acts Rigoletto premiered in 1851. Similar to the play that inspired it, the opera faced censorship because of its controversial subject of libertinism at court. The opera’s tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunchbacked court jester Rigoletto, and the jester’s beautiful daughter, Gilda.

L'italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca. The music is characteristic of Rossini's style, remarkable for its fusion of sustained, manic energy with elegant, pristine melodies.