Uploaded March 2016 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Habanera from Carmen by Georges Bizet
Arranged by José Serebrier
Conducted by Michael Wang, JE'17
Performed at 'DPops: Faux Pops' in Battell Chapel on December 6, 2015

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Program Notes:

We kick off our concert with selections from the Carmen Symphony. One of the most recognizable operas of all time, Carmen was written by French composer Georges Bizet and French librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, but its story is actually set entirely in Andalusia, and from beginning to end the piece feels distinctly Spanish. Premiered in Paris’s Opéra-Comique in 1875, this opera tells the story of the young, naïve soldier Don José who, seduced by the gypsy Carmen, leaves everything behind to be with her - only to lose her to the toreador Escamillo. The solution? To kill the girl he loved so dearly. Carmen was deemed too scandalous for its time, and unfortunately, Bizet did not live long enough to see it become as popular as it is today; only in Vienna did it gain widespread support and eventually become one of the most played operas in the classical canon. Tonight we present a few settings from José Serebrier’s arrangement of the music, knitting together some of the diverse styles of the original, and ultimately playing the opener at the close to give the suite the air of an overture.