Opera San Jose closes their season with the most celebrated tale of passion, jealousy, and fatal attraction, set against the sultry backdrop of Seville: Bizet’s Carmen. In this high-stakes collision of autonomy and obsession, the bold, free-spirited Carmen refuses to be possessed, drawing the soldier Don Jose into a dangerous world of defiance that ends in a seismic reckoning of the heart. From the defiant “Habanera” to the triumphant “Toreador Song,” this production pulses with an intensity and sensuality that persists until the final, bitter moments. Kelly Guerra, fresh from her Met debut, debuts at the California Theatre stage as the fiery Carmen. This beloved Opera San José production, which has introduced the transformative force of opera to thousands, remains an essential experience for a city that values radical independence and the unfiltered spirit.

Directed by an iconic Carmen herself, Denyce Graves