BRILLIANT COMEBACK

Carmen of Georges Bizet is one of the most brilliant operatic heroines. She personifies passionate temperament, feminine irresistibility and independence. The operatic Carmen has little semblance to her literary prototype depicted by the French writer Prosper Merimee. The composer and the librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy removed her "brigandish" traits such as guile, thievishness and all petty and commonplace things that "debased" this nature. Moreover, Carmen acquired streaks of tragic grandeur in Bizet's interpretation: she proves her right to freedom in love at the cost of her life. 

The love inspired in men by the Carmen of Prosper Merimee is a romantically cruel and violent passion. Her inconstancy is presented in Merimee's short story not as a manifestation of the weak female nature but as the fanatic devotion of a romantic individual to the idea of freedom. Carmen will always be free. She was born free and so will she die. 

Honoured Artist of Azerbaijan Fidan Haciyeva has brilliantly played this character of Georges Bizet's opera of the same title on the stage of the Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. It seems the long interval in the singer's creative work related to the birth of her third child has affected neither her appearance, nor her vocal capabilities. The brilliant singer and magnificent actress has again appeared before the Azerbaijani audience as the fiery Carmen. Fidan Haciyeva calls this role her hallmark. 

The part of Jose was performed on this occasion by the renowned tenor, People's Artist of Ukraine Andrey Romanenko. Fidan Haciyeva has for a long time ranked among the best performers of Carmen. The singer very skilfully uses her splendidly trained voice. The diva of the Azerbaijani opera stage has again coped excellently with Carmen's role after a long and careful preparation. According to Tofiq Aslanov, honoured teacher and professor of the Baku Music Academy, Haciyeva on stage looks much like Fatma Muxtarova - the first Azeri Carmen. "There is fire and freedom of mind in both", he said. 

Speaking in an interview with R+, Fidan herself admitted that this is her favourite role. "Performing the part of Carmen is inner purification and a really big event for me. My love for this role is growing ever stronger and each time I discover something new in it for myself. This is a very high responsibility. I feel very pleased to see my efforts being appreciated by the audience - their applause is my most important award," the singer said. 

Also starring in "Carmen" were Anton Ferndshtant (Toreador), Inara Babayeva (Micaella) and others. The production was directed by Honoured Artist of Azerbaijan, Professor Huseyn Aliyev. The orchestra was conducted by chief conductor of the theatre, People's Artist of Azerbaijan Cavansir Cafarov. Apropos, Huseyn Aliyev is Fidan Haciyeva's vocal coach. Once he performed the role of Jose in "Carmen" on the stage of his home theatre. Today it is on the repertoire of practically all opera companies and it is performed in most languages of the world including Japanese. There is much dispute about the secret of its popularity. The opera features many brilliant melodies and it is immensely dramatic. Bizet's opera is "a chef d'oeuvre… one of those few works which are fated to reflect most intensively the musical tendencies of a whole age… Within some ten years or so Carmen will be the most popular opera in the world…" These words by the Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky have proved to be prophetic. The opera "Carmen" remains up to this day one of the most popular theatrical performances. Each spectator can understand the author's message and find Carmen and Jose inside themselves. Because there are fire and passion in each of us…