References

• Welcome to CitiOpera Welcome to CitiOpera CitiOpera is a not-for-profit organisation with a specific focus on developing Melbourne's emerging operatic talent and finding news ways to engage audiences around Victoria. CitiOpera prides itself on bringing together the finest operatic talent to delight and move audiences. Since its origins as Melbourne City Opera in 1997, the company has developed a reputation for excellence and as a training ground for operatic stars of the future. CitiOpera's tradition of bringing together established artists and young, up-and-coming talent has produced countless acclaimed productions, most recently, an ambitious production of Verdi's Otello. Reviews of Otello described it as, “a beautiful night of talented performances” and “refreshing in its detail and authenticity.” CitiOpera currently receives no government funding and is supported entirely by donations from the public, private companies and philanthropic organisations.
• In 2013 the Melbourne City Opera (MCO) was rebranded to CitiOpera Established in 1997, Melbourne City Opera, now CitiOpera, was formed from the highly successful Melbourne based company, Globe Opera and we have carried on with those traditions, objectives and achievements. Perhaps few people attending those early Globe Opera concerts or its first stage opera, The Merry Wives of Windsor, at St Martins Theatre in June 1978 would have believed that from such beginnings would develop the quality and inspiring Opera company of today. For many years the company made its home at the National Theatre, The Comedy Theatre and later at the Athenaeum Theatre, and employed such legendary names as Suzanne Steele, Ronald Dowd, Margaret Nisbett, Maureen Howard and Ron Stevens in major productions of La Bohème, Faust, Carmen, I Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Madama Butterfly, The Merry Widow, Die Fledermaus, The Student Prince and many others. CitiOpera’s success was fostered in a foundation of dedicated artists. Today CitiOpera strives to pass on those traditions and nurture the pool of Australia’s new and emerging talent.
• Carmen Carmen is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on a novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, on 3 March 1875, and at first was not particularly successful. Its initial run extended to 36 performances, before the conclusion of which Bizet died suddenly, and thus knew nothing of the opera's later celebrity. The opera, written in the genre of opéra comique with musical numbers separated by dialogue, tells the story of the downfall of Don José, a naïve soldier who is seduced by the wiles of the fiery Gypsy, Carmen. José abandons his childhood sweetheart and deserts from his military duties, yet loses Carmen's love to the glamorous toreador Escamillo, after which José kills her in a jealous rage. The depictions of proletarian life, immorality and lawlessness, and the tragic death of the main character on stage, broke new ground in French opera and were highly controversial. After the premiere, most reviews were critical, and the French public was generally indifferent. Carmen initially gained its reputation through a series of productions outside France, and was not revived in Paris until 1883; thereafter it rapidly acquired celebrity at home and abroad, and continues to be one of the most frequently performed operas; the "Habanera" from act 1 and the "Toreador Song" from act 2 are among the best known of all operatic arias. Later commentators have asserted that Carmen forms the bridge between the tradition of opéra comique and the realism or verismo that characterised late 19th-century Italian opera. The music of Carmen has been widely acclaimed for its brilliance of melody, harmony, atmosphere and orchestration, and for the skill with which Bizet musically represented the emotions and suffering of his characters. After the composer's death the score was subject to significant amendment, including the introduction of recitative in place of the original dialogue; there is no standard edition of the opera, and different views exist as to what versions best express Bizet's intentions. The opera has been recorded many times since the first acoustical recording in 1908, and the story has been the subject of many screen and stage adaptations.