Cazan & ‘Carmen’

Ken Cazan, the director of the Music Academy 2024 opera Carmen, last helmed a production of the famed and beloved work nearly 30 years ago, and has been happily ensconced in recent years taking on smaller, more experimental pieces. But he was tempted to field the fiery fan favorite once again by both the offer from Lehrer Vocal Institute’s second-year co-director Sasha Cooke – their connection dates back almost 20 years to a production at Juilliard Opera – and the opportunity to work with talented young singers at a prestigious summer festival.

“The idea of doing Carmen with people who are the right age was really exciting,” Cazan said. “My first two times directing it, the cast was just great but perhaps a little long in the tooth for the roles. Here, everybody’s young and gorgeous, and I don’t mean only physically, but more emotionally and mentally. I think that coming out of COVID, they’re a little more sensitive than sensitized, and they’re bringing all that uniqueness to their performances.”

Working with college-age opera artists is nothing new for Cazan, who has taught at USC Thornton School of Music for two decades. Their eager and open approach has been a thrilling experience so far, he said. 

“We’re exploring a great deal, and everybody’s coming in with great ideas and great thoughts. Speaking as someone who learned at Actors Studio, I want them to bring themselves as much as possible to their characters, be willing to take the emotional risks, and they’re all doing it. They want to be the best possible performers they can be, which is not always true with young opera singers, and it’s really thrilling.”

That commitment is necessary because the director wanted to move the time frame for Carmen to modern times, about 200 years forward from its usual setting, to put the timeless story into a contemporary climate. 

“Romani gypsy life still exists,” said Cazan, who is part Romanian and noted that he still has relatives on his father’s side who live the nomadic, itinerant lifestyle. “I feel passionate about making these characters three-dimensional as much as possible within the structure of grand opera.”

That’s particularly true of the title character, the free-spirited, fiery and charismatic factory worker Carmen, who is at the center of a love triangle full of obsession and jealousy. 

“I don’t buy the traditional view that she only uses her body to get what she wants,” Cazan said. “She’s an intelligent woman, with serious life skills at a very young age, and who is using that to reach her goals to get to the top of the social structure, to not have to be a thief and not have to engage in nefarious deeds for the rest of her life. On the other hand, this is also a woman who’s been raised in a highly religious, highly superstitious lifestyle that believes in the circle of fate. And that is her Achilles heel, her tragic flaw. The opera has this great tension between her following her intentions no matter who she walks over combined with the superstition.”

Cazan said there are moments where the character “freaks out,” and others where she exposes her vulnerability, something rare in typical productions.

“We’re working hard to make her real,” he said. 

Maggie Reneé plays the ill-fated Carmen, with Xuyue Qing as Don José and Paul Jang as Escamillo also fronting the fellows-powered cast, while the staff for Carmen also features MAW’s third-year Principal Opera Conductor Daniela Candillari conducting, with dance sequences by the highly-decorated flamenco dancer and choreographer Manuel Gutierrez. Performances are Friday night and Sunday afternoon at the Granada. 

Thursday, July 11: Tonight’s X2 Series concert could be re-named 11X2 as the programming boasts a total of eight different faculty/teaching artists sharing the stage with 14 instrumental fellows over the course of the evening, in the largest non-orchestral/operatic concert of the summer. Pianist Timo Andres’ early composition “Some Connecticut Gospel,” encompasses half of those players, a dozen-strong ensemble piece about his family’s home that opens the program. Kevin Puts’ 2013 Seven Seascapes, whose seven movements are titled after and accompanied by excerpts from poems, is perfect for Miraflores, as the work was inspired by the composer’s “deep fascination for all things maritime … counterbalanced by a certain degree of fear of the ocean’s vast depths and hidden perils.” Eric Ewazen’s 1992 “Trio for Trumpet, Violin, and Piano,” and César Franck’s 145-year-old “Piano Quintet in F Minor” round out the program. (Hahn Hall, 7:30 pm; $45)

Friday, July 12: Andres’ immersion weekend continues with his leading the Solo Piano Masterclass, coaching select fellows on the Glass Études, which we wrote about last week. (Hahn, 3:30 pm; $10)… This year’s opera, Carmen,has its performances at the Granada Theatre downtown tonight, and on Sunday afternoon. See my interview with director Ken Cazan (page 26).
(7 pm & 2 pm; $35-$100)

Saturday, July 13: The rare opportunity to hear all 20 of Philip Glass’ Piano Études happens at Hahn Hall tonight, with Andres and fellow faculty pianist Conor Hanick handling the first and the 20th, respectively; thus bookending the six solo piano fellows each taking on three of the densely kaleidoscopic Glass études in between. (Hahn Hall, 7 pm; $55)

Tuesday, July 16: The MAW instrumental fellows – by far the most “unsung” of the young artists at the summer festival – get to be the focus of our desire tonight in a special Collaborative Piano evening concert. These are the fellows whose aim is to sync their artistry with fellows in all the other instruments; for purposes of rehearsing and performing sonatas and subbing for the orchestra in excerpts of concertos. Come support the nine young pianists who seamlessly support their fellow fellows – plenty of good tickets remain available. (Hahn, 7:30 pm; $18-$45)

Wednesday, July 17: A huge number of composer Florence Price’s manuscripts were discovered in the attic of an abandoned home in Illinois about 20 years ago, a half century after her death. MAW is among those making up for the decades of neglect, with the AFO playing one of her symphonies at the Granada two weeks ago, and tonight programming her “Piano Quintet in A Minor,” featuring her late-Romantic style infused with the sounds of spirituals and hymns from her life. Enjoy a glass of wine and settle into the intimate chamber salon-style environs of Lehmann Hall as the 11 fellows first explore Fauré’s song cycle “La Bonne Chanson, Op. 61,” before presenting the Price piece. (7:30 pm; $45).