When I tell people that some of the best opera I see in the US outside of New York is in Texas, a lot of folks don’t believe me. The truth is that the concentration of wealth in Dallas and Houston leads to remarkable private funding for the arts from opera to art museums.
Like an opera lover, I’ve seen Carmen before. Bizet’s music is spectacular, as any child who watched Saturday morning cartoons can tell you. So, believe me when I say this is a big deal: This performance is now my favorite production of Carmen. The singers were great; mezzo Marina Viotti was so dynamic in the title role, and baritone Gihoon Kim was very fun as an over-the-top Escamillo. I don’t mean this as any shade to all of the cast, but this production was about the costumes and sets!
The costumes were by Christian Lacroix!!! A famous fashion couturier doing the costumes would be enough, but they went even further. The costumes and sets were based on drawings and photographs of the 1875 original production. Everything was so lush. Set designer Antoine Fontaine created backdrops based on period scenery while keeping fast changes between the acts. I walked away stunned.
I see a lot of contemporary operas and can appreciate a reimagining of an old opera (Santa Fe’s 2024 reimagining of Don Giovanni based on The Portrait of Dorian Gray stands out). However, seeing Carmen in all of its original glory was truly superb.
Opera: Carmen
Composer: Georges Bizet
Venue: Dallas Opera
Date: October 26, 2025
Link: https://dallasopera.org/performance/carmen/
Opera Nerd 
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