Ireland Bizet, Carmen (concert performance): Soloists, Chorus Ireland (chorus director: David Young) and Cór na nÓg (chorus director: Mary Amond O’Brien), National Symphony Orchestra / Jessica Cottis (conductor). National Concert Hall, Dublin, 10.10.2025. (RB)
Cast:
Carmen – Natalia Kutateladze
Micaëla – Sarah Brady
Don José – Noah Stewart
Escamillo – Gyula Nagy
Zuniga – John Molloy
Frasquita – Ami Hewitt
Mercédès – Kezia Bienek
Moralès – Rory Dunne
Remendado – Sean Tester
Dancaïre – Jakob Mahase
The National Symphony Orchestra Ireland were joined by young Swedish conductor Jessica Cottis for this concert performance of Bizet’s Carmen. Georgian mezzo-soprano, Natalia Kutateladze took on the title role. She has already appeared in the role of Carmen in Santiago and Tbilisi, and it is rapidly becoming one of her signature roles. She was joined by a strong cast including Sarah Brady, Noah Stewart, Gyula Nagy and John Molloy. The National Symphony Chorus Ireland and Cór na nÓg children’s choir took on the roles of the chorus and children’s chorus.
The orchestra were seated on the main stage, and the performers entered and exited the stage to perform their requisite numbers. The National Symphony Chorus and Cór na nÓg were both seated above the orchestra in the gallery. I was pleased to see the performers acting out their parts and performing the work as a full-blooded drama. Some props might have helped to bring the drama to life even more. There can sometimes be balance of sound issues where the orchestra are seated just behind the performers rather than in the pit, but Cottis for the most part worked well with the performers to ensure the singers were not drowned out.
Natalia Kutateladze did a wonderful job in bringing Bizet’s seductive gypsy girl to life. Her Carmen was a poised, self-possessed free spirit who could be seductive and flirtatious but also fiery and defiant when she needed to be. She displayed a steely inner strength standing up to the enraged Don José. I wondered if she could perhaps have showed us a little more of Carmen’s vulnerability and impetuosity. Kutateladze has a rich, creamy mezzo voice which is strong throughout the vocal register. I was particularly impressed with her singing at the bottom of the register and the intense musicality of her performance. She brought rich dark colours and silky sensuous lines to the famous ‘Habañera’. The subsequent ‘Seguidilla’ had a flirtatious allure, and the ornamented vocal line was beautifully handled. The final scene, in which she stood up to Noah Stewart’s murderous Don José, was a dramatic impassioned tour de force.
Noah Stewart cut an imposing figure in the role of Don José and successfully depicted his initial infatuation and gradual descent into jealous murderous obsession. He sang, ‘La fleur que tu m’avais jetée’ with enormous warmth and lyricism and ringing top notes. It made one wonder how Carmen could refuse his entreaties, but it also laid bare his growing sense of desperation. Stewart’s final confrontation with Kutateladze’s Carmen was thrilling and both performers ratcheted up the dramatic tension very well. Stewart did portray Don José’s growing sense of desperation and anger before the final dénouement. While this was all impressive, some of Stewart’s top notes sounded a little forced in the early part of the opera although this did not detract from a sterling performance.
Irish soprano, Sarah Brady, was superb in the role of Micaëla and she produced some of the best singing of the evening. Her Act I aria had a high degree of technical finish and was exquisitely beautiful. ‘Je dis que rien ne m’éprovante’ in Act III was an impassioned, voluptuous tour de force. Gyula Nagy strutted around the stage in leather trousers and brought swagger and machismo to the role of Escamillo. I was not entirely convinced by his performance of the famous ‘Toreador Song’ which sounded a little thin and lacklustre. I would have welcomed greater vocal heft and projection.
The rest of the cast all acquitted themselves well. The ensemble numbers featuring Carmen and her bandit friends were an absolute delight and elicited enthusiastic applause from the audience. I felt the National Symphony Chorus were a little too polite in their initial entries: they seemed to approach the music in the same way they would a choral work. However, they soon got caught up in the unfolding dramatic events and moved from strength to strength as the opera progressed. Cór na nÓg delivered their two numbers with relish and enthusiasm.
Jessica Cottis ensured the cast, choruses and orchestra remained on track. She brought a freshness and exuberance to the Overture, and she clearly had an eye to dynamics and the shifting orchestral colours in Bizet’s score. The National Symphony Orchestra were on scintillating form and there was some impressive playing from the strings and woodwind. The pacing of the material was well judged although there were one or two moments when Cottis delayed the next number when it would have been better to move straight on to sustain the dramatic momentum.
The cast chorus and orchestra were rewarded with a well-deserved standing ovation from the audience.
Robert Beattie