The Greek National Opera Ballet has announced its third production for the 2022/23 season: a new ballet production Carmen, choreographed by the great Swedish choreographer Johan Inger and presented for the first time by the Compañía Nacional de Danza, Madrid in 2015. Four performances -17, 18, 19, 20 May 2023- inside the Stavros Niarchos room of the GNO at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, and directed by Ektoras Tartanis. This production is made possible thanks to a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to strengthen the artistic influence of the GNO.

The famous dancer and choreographer Johan Inger – who has carved out a long and exceptionally successful career, both at the Nederlands Dans Theater and in other major European dance companies – created the ballet Carmen for the Compañía Nacional de Danza, where he proved very popular. Inger took up the challenge and the opportunity to create a new choreography for Bizet’s heroine – considered a symbol of love and freedom – and her primary concern was to offer a new interpretation of this famous story. To that end, he decided to focus on the issue of violence, approaching it through the eyes of a child. From this vantage point, Inger invites the audience to look at the action through a filter of innocence.

The choreographer himself notes: “My Carmen is not only based on the female protagonist of the story; like Mérimée’s original, my ballet also focuses on Don José’s lovesickness – on a man who, unable to accept the freedom of his beloved, sets out on the road to hell, driven by his primary instincts: passion and revenge. There is a part of mystery in this character: it can being a child can be Don José, it can even be us, with our primitive goodness lacerated by the experience of violence, which, although short-lived, may have negatively influenced our lives and our ability to relate to others forever.”

In this choreography by Inger, the ballet version of the story of Carmen by Rodion Shchedrin – Georges Bizet enters into dialogue with music written by Marc Álvarez. With dramaturgy by Gregor Acuña-Pohl, sets by Curt Allen Wilmer and Leticia Gañán, costumes by David Delfín and lighting by Tom Visser. The Orchestra of the National Opera of Greece is conducted by Maestro Ektoras Tartanis. With the principal dancers, soloists, demi-soloists and corps de ballet of the National Opera of Greece.

Tickets will go on sale February 1, 2023.