Tag archives: Carmen

Carmen’s Charisma
By Richard Mineards   |   July 23, 2024

Carmen, Bizet’s classic opera, never loses its entertainment value. Having last seen it when it was staged by Opera Santa Barbara a year ago, the latest production at the Granada, courtesy of the Music Academy of the West’s Summer Festival, was a decidedly contemporary twist on the Spanish love story conducted by Daniela Candillari, principal […]

Cazan & ‘Carmen’
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 16, 2024

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 […]

Opera ‘Carmen’ at You
By Richard Mineards   |   October 10, 2023

Opera Santa Barbara kicked off its 30th season on a particularly high note at the Granada when it staged Bizet’s 1875 masterpiece Carmen, the first time in seven years. The hugely entertaining three-hour, four-act show with Kostis Protopapas, general director, conducting, featured mezzo-soprano Sarah Saturnino, a Grand Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition, in […]

Here Comes ‘Carmen’
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 3, 2023

A lot of the buzz surrounding Carmen is, naturally, centered around Sarah Saturnino, the young mezzo-soprano who makes her Opera Santa Barbara (OSB) and role debut as the fiery heroine of the title. Deservedly so, as Saturnino, who in April was chosen as one of the winners of Metropolitan Opera’s prestigious nationwide Laffont Competition, has […]

‘Carmen Jones’ Opens at the New Vic
By Richard Mineards   |   October 18, 2022

Carmen Jones, the Oscar Hammerstein musical that opened the latest season of the Ensemble Theatre Company at the New Vic, took two years to come to fruition given the pandemic delays, but it was clearly worth the wait! Directed by Artistic Director Jonathan Fox, the hugely entertaining show featuring an all-Black cast and based on […]

ETC Presents ‘Carmen Jones’
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 11, 2022

People have been bewitched and beguiled by the story of Carmen as consistently as the fiery gypsy seduces the brave men she encounters. Bizet’s opera remains wildly popular worldwide, almost 150 years since it premiered in Paris, and countless adaptations in dance have spun the tale through musical movement.  Even Oscar Hammerstein fell under Carmen’s […]

A Few of My Favorite Things
By Ashleigh Brilliant   |   February 18, 2021

My tastes in most categories are very conventional, so most of my favorites probably will not surprise you. In poetry, for example, at the top of my personal list is the piece known as “Gray’s Elegy in a Country Churchyard” – not to be confused with Gray’s Allergy. [Only kidding.] One reason I like it […]

Talkin’ Tunes and Times Through TEDxSB
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 31, 2020

TEDxSantaBarbara founder and executive producer Mark Sylvester realized early on as COVID-19 crept into our consciousness that he’d probably have to cancel his annual convention that each fall brings together as many as 10 speakers with local spins on the TED trio of topics (technology, entertainment, and design). That’s when the disappointment set in.  “It […]

Honing in on ‘Home for the Holidays’
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 17, 2020

A cabaret for Christmas might seem like the mixing of metaphors, but the idea made a lot of sense for PCPA as a way to produce something during the pandemic. That was partly because a show that’s akin to a revue could be done from people’s homes during lockdown without damaging the storyline. But it […]

PCPA’s Holiday Cabaret
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 10, 2020

PCPA’s 2020 Christmas-season treat is called Home for the Holidays, with the subtitle of “… because where else are you going to be?” Fair enough. With the coronavirus raging all over again, the Central Coast conservatory keeps its virtual programs flowing with a holiday cabaret featuring its resident artists. The free streaming event will be […]

Carmen for COVID: See a Classic Opera From Your Car
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 3, 2020

In normal times, opera can be an emotional experience, perhaps even a cathartic one, for members of the audience when the music meets the drama with just the right note. But the upcoming Concerts In Your Car version of Carmen has proven to be quite a tear-jerker just for the creative team even before the […]

Dance Stance
By Richard Mineards   |   March 15, 2018

Superlatives are not sufficient to describe the Spanish National Dance Company’s performance of Swedish choreographer Johan Inger‘s Carmen at the Granada. The 39-year-old Madrid-based troupe, who last dazzled us six years ago, showed why the quintessentially Spanish work has become one of the most talked-about new ballets of the decade with Japan-born Kayoko Everhart dazzling […]