Bizet: Carmen

• After her triumphant success as Carmen in Riga, London, and Munich, Elîna Garanca, “the Carmen of our day” (News, Austria), is bound to take the Met by storm when filmed live in January for release on a 2 DVD Set in 5.1 DTS surround sound• Every generation has its “go to” Carmen. In 2010, the list of definitive gypsy seductresses – glittering with names like Baltsa, Bumbry, Calvé, Farrar, and Stevens – is enriched by the addition of Elîna Garanca• Carmen, opera’s archetypal femme fatale and a touchstone role for mezzos, is Elîna Garanca’s calling card throughout 2010 – January: USA, New York, Met; May: Austria, Vienna, Vienna State Opera; early June: Germany, Munich, Bavarian State Opera; late June: Spain, Valencia, Palau de les Arts; October: USA, New York, Met• The Wiener Zeitung said it all when it observed of Garanca’s Carmen that “the role and the singer are perfectly matched”