| Today's Travel News |
|
|
| · October 1, 2003 · |
|
For More About
Where To Go Next |
· Carmen Comes Home To Seville Open Air Opera To Be Staged At Old Tobacco Factory, Bullring Seville International Music Festival to include Flamenco, Concerts, Recitals SEVILLE, Spain (September 30, 2003) - One year from this month - September 2 to 12, 2004 - George Bizet's opera Carmen will return to its Andalusian home in Seville with a dramatic series of events destined to bring the story alive for a new generation of opera buffs. In ten performances, the story of the fiery gypsy Carmen and her love affairs with a Spanish soldier and a bullfighter will unfold in this southern Spanish city at the original Tobacco Factory, the Plaza de España and the Plaza de Toros, or bullring. Although several productions of Carmen have been staged in Seville, none has used the dramatic settings of the actual buildings in which the action takes place. Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura will direct and the renowned Lorin Maazel will conduct Carmen. "Carmen in Seville" is the highlight of what is being billed as the "Seville International Music Festival 2004," a series of events, theme-related performances and exhibits including flamenco shows, concerts by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (conductor: Sir Colin Davis) and the Russian National Orchestra (conductor: Carlos Ponti, soloist: Mstislav Rostropovitch) and recitals by Maxim Vengerov (violin) and Rostropovitch (cello). After the first act, which takes place in the Tobacco Factory, the audience will be asked to stroll over to the Plaza de España for an hour-long intermission. After the third act facing the Maria Luisa Park, there will be a two-hour intermission and everyone will be invited to wander along a lovely promenade by the Guadalquivir River to the Plaza de Toros. Picturesque horse-drawn carriages and buses will be available to carry the handicapped and those who do not wish to walk. These scene and locale changes will add a new dimension to the enjoyment of the opera as well as providing an entertaining evening out. The promenades will be festively decorated and illuminated. Vendors will offer drinks and tapas, the popular Spanish snacks, as well as typical handicrafts and performances by dancers, musicians and mimes will be featured. The audience will actually be part of a traditional paseo and will then enter into the bullring, where the fourth and final act takes place. This traditional parade that accompanies the entry into the Plaza de Toros - with the presentation of the toreros, or bullfighters - will also be built into the beginning of the act. Seville's mild year-round temperatures make it an ideal venue for outdoor opera and September is a particularly agreeable month with lovely warm weather suited for spending an evening out-of-doors enjoying the festive atmosphere and lifestyle of Spain's southern Andalusia region. "Carmen in Seville" is a project of the city of Seville and is being produced by Opera on Original Site (OOS), which produced the 1998 "Turandot in the Forbidden City" in Beijing. For more information about the performances, including ticket prices and packages contact: Central Information & Reservation Office, Sevilla International Music Festival - Carmen 2004 (Viajes El Corte Inglés); tel: 011-34-954-506-609, fax: 011-34-954-214-221 or 954-223-512, or go to www.sevillafestival.org or e-mail reservations@sevillafestival.org For information about Spain, contact the Tourist Office of Spain, at 1-212-265-8822 or www.okspain.org Media Contact: Pilar Vico Tourist Office of Spain 212-265-8822 pilar.vico@tourspain.es Meredith Pillon MPMC 212-289-1627 meredithpillon@mpmcus.com |
| Produced by Judi Janofsky, Rich Steck and the Golf Press Association |