Carmen at 150 - An Evening of Opera Choruses & Scenes: Jan. 25, 2025

Learn more about the City Choir of Washington’s performance of “Carmen in miniature” and Opera Choruses

Text and Translations

Please click HERE for full text and translations for the program.

Meet the Artists

“Carmen in Miniature”

A Night at the Opera

The only thing better than a night at the opera is an evening where you can sample offerings from eleven operas! Click HERE to find out some fascinating facts about the operas City Choir will draw from on our January 25 concert. You’ll see a brilliantly funny animated synopsis of Carmen, learn why 19th century European audiences were captivated by all things Scottish and seduced by the allure of Orientalism, discover how Verdi’s “Va, pensiero” almost became the official Italian national anthem, and find out about a shocking and tragic event in the life of Frank Lloyd Wright, immortalized by contemporary composer Daron Hagen.

Images used in projected titles:

Carmen 1875 Act I lithograph : Pierre-Auguste Lamy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons [image altered] // Carmen 1875 Act II lithograph : Pierre-Auguste Lamy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons [image altered] // An expedition to the mountain pass at Venasque taken from the lake. Lithograph by V Petit after himself. Wellcome Collection. Public domain. [image altered] // Carmen 1875 Act IV lithograph : Pierre-Auguste Lamy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons [image altered] // Design for the Opera The Magic Flute, 1847–49, by Karl Friedrich Thiele (1780–1836); after Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain. “Macbeth meets the witches” by Roberto Focosi (1806-1862); lithograph by Francesco Corbetta (1815-?), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. // Italian town – image purchased via Shutterstock. // Dalziels' Bible Gallery illustration 'By the Waters of Babylon' word engraving (1864) by Edward Poynter, 1 January 1865. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. [image altered] // Illustration for the final scene of act 1 (duet of Leïla and Nadir) in the opera Les pêcheurs de perles by Georges Bizet, as produced at La Scala on 20 March 1886, the Milan premiere. Published April 1886 in Il Teatro illustrato. This file was derived from: Final scene of Act1 of 'The Pearl Fishers' by Bizet - Gallica.jpg. The image was cropped and imperfections removed by en:User:Jappalang and uploaded by him on 13:21, 22 December 2011 as a third version to en:File:Pearl Fishers by Antonio Bonamore.jpg //Madame Butterfly (1903) "At the head of it... sat Cho-Cho-San" photograph by C. Yarnall Abbott. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons //Costumes de Lakmé pour le théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique (1883), dessins de Stop (Louis Morel-Retz). Source : Gallica. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. // Tan-Y-Deri, Taliesin, Spring Green, Sauk County, WI. Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress) Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C [image altered] // Lucie de Lammermoor, quadrille facile par Ad. Le Carpentier  (1867-69), Victor Coindre. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. [image altered] // Alfons Mucha - Champagne Roederer. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons // Alfons Mucha-Heidsieck and Co.-1901. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons