A popular Barcelonan 'Carmen'

BarcelonaThe Palau de la Música will inaugurate, on September 27, the new season of the Barcelona Popular Opera with Carmen, by Georges Bizet. Musical direction will be given to Josep M. Mindán, leading the Terrassa 48 Orchestra, and the stage work will be directed by Jaume Villanueva, who this time sets the story in 1960s Barcelona. The production aims to be a reflection on female freedom and gender violence, but above all, an exercise in cultural proximity, an opera that speaks from the territory and for the city's audiences.

Villanueva, founder of the Octubre Teatral company, is at the center of this new adventure. The Barcelona Popular Opera was founded in 2023 as a community initiative. According to Villanueva, its foundation emerged "in an absolutely philharmonic way, the way music began." RehearsingThe Magic Flute, Mozart, felt the need to join forces and create a company that didn't depend on large budgets or imported programming. The company works with local and international singers and is committed to reinterpreting the great works, placing them on local stages. "We live off the audience and the people who collaborate. That's why we will transformThe elixir of loveat a party in Plaza Nova with giants and big heads, andCarmenin a story that takes place in the Raval," he explains.

The new version moves the action from Seville to the most sordid Barcelona of the 1960s. Carmen no longer works in an Andalusian cigarette factory, but in the tobacco manufacturing workshop of the Comillas and Güell families, across the street from a barracks. tablao Lillas Pastia becomes El Cangrejo, the neighborhood variety show, and children play bullfighters in the streets. "It's a story that could perfectly take place here," says Villanueva. This reading aims to recover its "spirit."CarmenIt's a rogue opera, and what we do is give it back that character," he says.

One of the most notable changes in the production is the way it views the protagonist. "Here, Don José isn't the leading man," Villanueva notes. "He's a bastard who wants to take advantage of Carmen. She just wants to get rid of him. When Escamillo, who truly loves her, shows up, she's living her dream. But at the happiest moment of her life, he shows up to kill her. It seemed very sad to me." With this decision, the director wants to move away from the traditional interpretation, which justified crime.

The Palau de la Música, a concert hall, becomes an "ideal" space for Popular Opera. "It has no scenery, it's an empty space. ForCarmenWe only need a table and a couple of chairs. We work with the light, the space, and the orchestra, which is always at the back of the stage. This allows the singers to be close to the audience," explains Villanueva. The desire to make a popular opera responds to a basic principle: "Everyone has the right to culture. It would be very sad to die without having seenThe Magic Flute".

This season, in addition toCarmen, the Popular Opera will programLa traviata,The elixir of loveand The Magic Flute. He also wants to recoverOrfeo ed Euridice.