Carmen - Habanera (Bizet; Anna Caterina Antonacci, The Royal Opera)

Spanish heat and gypsy passion are brought to the stage in Francesca Zambello’s vivid production of Bizet’s opera. Carmen is available to watch now – along with over 60 other extraordinary productions – on Royal Opera House Stream. Watch the whole performance now at The Habanera is the aria Carmen sings when she first appears on stage. It is also known as ’L’amour est un oiseau rebelle’. Carmen was based on a popular novella of the same name by Prosper Mérimée, which enticed French readers with exotic tales of Spain. Its heady combination of passion, sensuality and violence initially proved too much for the stage and Georges Bizet’s opera was a critical failure on its premiere in 1875. Bizet died shortly after, never learning of the spectacular success Carmen would achieve -- it has been staged over 500 times at Covent Garden alone. Carmen contains many well-loved numbers, such as Carmen