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8/9/2019 The Star Online _ the MPOs Carmen Festival Set to Stir Audiences With Its Themes of Love, Passion and Betrayal
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17/01/2015 The Star Online | The MPOs Carmen Festival set to stir audiences with its themes of love, passion and betrayal
http://m.thestar.com.my/story.aspx?hl=The+MPOs+Carm en+Festival+set+to+stir +audiences+with+its+themes+of+love+passion+and+betrayal&sec=li 1/7
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Lifestyle
Thursday January 15, 2015 1 2:00:00 AM
The MPOs Carmen Festival set tostir audiences with its themes of
love, passionand betrayalBY DINESH KUMAR MAGANATHAN
MPOs Carmen Festival will be presented in a ballet, a concert and anabridged opera
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8/9/2019 The Star Online _ the MPOs Carmen Festival Set to Stir Audiences With Its Themes of Love, Passion and Betrayal
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17/01/2015 The Star Online | The MPOs Carmen Festival set to stir audiences with its themes of love, passion and betrayal
http://m.thestar.com.my/story.aspx?hl=The+MPOs+Carm en+Festival+set+to+stir +audiences+with+its+themes+of+love+passion+and+betrayal&sec=li 2/7
Her two-syllabled name Carmen just rings with unbridled passion and
wanton desire. Just saying her name out loud conjures something amorous.
It is no surprise then that Don Jos, a soldier and a man of the world, fell under
her spell. Never so fiercely has a man loved a woman. And it is with such a kind
of love the hammer stroke of betrayal hits the hardest.
Carmen transgressed their love affair and chose another man instead. Blinded
by his jealous rage, Don Jos unwittingly murdered the one woman he so
passionately loved.
So, you dont really want to miss this tragic tale presented in such operatic
heights and impassioned orchestration when Malaysian Philharmonic
Orchestras (MPO) Carmen Festival opens tomorrow night. Helmed by MPOs
new principal conductor Fabio Mechetti, the three-weekend festival at Dewan
Filharmonik Petronas in Kuala Lumpur offers different treatments to themasterpiece composed by French composer Georges Bizet in 1875. This year
marks the 140th anniversary of Bizets Carmen.
Brazilian-born Mechettis relationship with Carmen began at the tender age of
seven when he was part of the operas childrens chorus. He grew fond of the
opera for its timeless and raw portrayal of human passions.
Sometimes we artists think everything that becomes too popular is not good.
And some of it is true. But in Carmenscase, it is not so. I think it is a great
masterpiece, says Mechetti during a break from rehearsals at DFP.
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17/01/2015 The Star Online | The MPOs Carmen Festival set to stir audiences with its themes of love, passion and betrayal
http://m.thestar.com.my/story.aspx?hl=The+MPOs+Carm en+Festival+set+to+stir +audiences+with+its+themes+of+love+passion+and+betrayal&sec=li 3/7
Don Jos, played by Valenti, kills Carmen in a fit of rage and jealousy.
It is a very difficult score, it is beautifully done and there are no moments in the
opera where you look down and think yeah, okay, whats next, he adds.
Mechetti even shares a bit of trivia on Carmen. Friedrich Nietzsche, the
philosopher and a very good friend of another opera legend, Wagner, actuallysaid that the greatest opera of that time was Carmen! says the maestro.
Bizets Carmen tells a tragic tale of love, passion, betrayal, lust, jealousy and
broken heartedness.
Written originally as a four-act opera, its passionate and soaring scores have
mesmerised audiences around the world. Such is its popularity that it has been
adapted into numerous films, Broadway plays and several ballets.
Mechetti pointed out what makes Carmen flexible as a body of music (the ballet
suite was composed by Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin) is the story itself.
The story is a very present story. Its a story of passion and how you react to
jealousy. This is something that has been happening since the Greeks. We
have passionate crimes happening every day.
So, we can use that story as a common thread throughout generations. It is
the story of a jealous man who cant live without the woman and the only way to
do that is to kill her, explains Mechetti.
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San Francisco Ballet's principal dancer, Tan Yuan Yuan, will play Carmen in Carmen InDance.
The festival will present a ballet performance, a family concert and an abridged
version of the opera.
Called Carmen In Dance, the 45-minute ballet score will be conducted by
Mechetti himself and choreographed by Malaysian Choong Wan Chin, the
artistic director of KL Dance Works. She was a dancer before she sustained a
bad injury many years ago.
Tan Yuan Yuan, a principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, will play the
titular role. The other dancers who will be involved in the ballet are Sergey
Kheylik, Chew Zi Xin, Steve Goh and Svetlana Danilova, among others.
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17/01/2015 The Star Online | The MPOs Carmen Festival set to stir audiences with its themes of love, passion and betrayal
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Bardon plays the alluring gypsy Carmen in Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestras CarmenFestival.
This will be followed by a more relaxed and family themed concert called
Carmen For The Family conducted by Ciaran McAuley. Intended to be an
introductory concert for those who are not familiar with Carmen, this is suitable
for families and young music lovers.
The grand finale is naturally the opera itself. Of course, this will be an abridged
version of Bizets Carmen. Nonetheless, it will not be rent of the originals
vivacity and potency.
This story of visceral love and jealousy will surely enthral, haunt and bring
audiences to electrifying heights with its stunning scores.
Dublin-born Patricia Bardon, a renowned opera singer, will assume the role ofCarmen, with Mechetti returning as conductor. Bardons repertoire includes
works by Monteverdi, Handel, Glck, Rossini and Verdi. American tenor James
Valenti will play Carmens jealous lover Don Jose.
Mechetti, a highly acclaimed operatic conductor himself, had conducted
Carmenmany times previously on top of La Boheme Madame Butterfly and
Don Giovanni and shared that his treatment for this semi-staged performance
will be slightly different.
This is very different because this is not really an opera performance. The
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17/01/2015 The Star Online | The MPOs Carmen Festival set to stir audiences with its themes of love, passion and betrayal
http://m.thestar.com.my/story.aspx?hl=The+MPOs+Carm en+Festival+set+to+stir +audiences+with+its+themes+of+love+passion+and+betrayal&sec=li 6/7
whole writing of the score was done with the idea that the orchestra will be in
the pit. All the dynamics was for such a setting.
The balance becomes a problem when you move the orchestra up. However,
the ensemble can be better because the communication between singers,
orchestra and conductor is more direct, says Mechetti, who ended his 14-year
tenure with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra (United States) prior tojoining MPO last August.
We are all attracted to tragic love tales, like moths to a flame. And we soar to
heights of emotions when grand music and operatic excellence stir our deep-
set emotions. Carmen is such a tale and it will be a tragic injustice to deprive
yourself of a thrilling human experience.
The Carmen Festival opens tomorrow night at the Dewan Filharmonik
Petronas, Level 2, Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur and will play until Feb 1.Schedule: Carmen In Dance (Jan 16 & 17, 8.30pm, Jan 18, 3pm). Carmen For
The Family (Jan 24-25, 3pm). Bizets Carmen (Jan 28 & Jan 30, 8.30pm, Feb 1,
3pm). Tickets for Carmen In Dance and Bizets Carmen range RM100 to
RM320. Tickets for Carmen For The Family range RM30 to RM80. For ticket
booking, call 03-20517007 or visit www.mpo.com.my.
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