October 16, 2019
SAIMIR PIRGU IN CARMEN AT DEUTSCHE OPER BERLIN
On October 16, 2019, Saimir Pirgu will return to the Deutsche Oper Berlin after one and a half years with a role he debuted in Bangkok last September under Zubin Mehta and hasn’t sung again since. Audiences can thus look forward to two performances of his very first Don José on a European stage under the baton of Jordi Bernàcer alongside Yulia Matochkina as Carmen, Markus Brück as Escamillo and Elena Tsallagova as Micaëla.
Bizet’s antiheroe is not the only French role Saimir Pirgu added to his repertory in the past years. After Roméo and Werther, he made a big splash in the title role of Berlioz’ La damnation de Faust in Moscow in 2016. Next month, the Albanian born tenor will make his role debut in Gounod’s version of Faust with Opera Australia in Melbourne. Bizet and Saimir Pirgu will team up again in July 2020 for a Carmen series at the Teatro di San Carlo under Emmanuel Villaume.
Information about Carmen at Deutsche Oper Berlin:
Carmen: Yulia Matochkina; Don José: Saimir Pirgu; Frasquita: Meechot Marrero;
Mercédès: Karis Tucker; Micaëla: Elena Tsallagova; Moralès: Thomas Lehman; Zuniga: Byung Gil Kim; Escamillo: Markus Brück; Remendado: Ya-Chung Huang; Dancairo: Matthew Cossack.
Jordi Bernàcer, conductor; Ole Anders Tandberg, director
Performances: October 16 and 25, 2019