Florida Grand Opera Will Bring CARMEN to Miami and Fort Lauderdale
Performances run April 12 through April 15, 2025.
By: Emmy Rice Mar. 22, 2025
Carmen is coming to South Florida this April in a new production, conceived and directed by French-born Maria Todaro. Presented by Florida Grand Opera (FGO)—the oldest arts organization in Florida—at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami and the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, this production reimagines Bizet’s masterpiece against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War in 1937. Here, Carmen becomes more than a mesmerizing woman—she is a freedom fighter. This production also marks the 150th anniversary of Georges Bizet’s death, with Carmen standing as his final and most celebrated work.
Todaro’s Carmen is a tribute to the beauty, intelligence, and resilience of women. Her interpretation goes beyond the opera’s traditional depictions, celebrating a young yet profoundly complex Carmen—one whose fiery spirit and unyielding independence captivate audiences. This Carmen is a survivor, a revolutionary, and a woman who refuses to be defined by the men around her.
By setting the opera during the Spanish Civil War, Todaro’s Carmen highlights the fight for personal and political freedom, making the opera’s themes of love, power, and rebellion more relevant than ever.
A FAMILY LEGACY OF CARMEN
For Todaro, Carmen is more than an opera—it is part of her heritage. Born in France to legendary opera singers José Todaro and Maria-Helena de Oliveira, she grew up immersed in Bizet’s world. Her mother, a celebrated Brazilian mezzo-soprano, performed the role of Carmen over 250 times, making history as the youngest to ever debut in the role at La Monnaie in Brussels at just 21 years old. Her father, José Todaro, frequently portrayed Don José, and their shared performances led to their engagement while performing Carmen together in Brussels. Todaro herself first performed the role of Carmen before shifting into directing productions of Carmen.
The production will be conducted by Spanish Conductor Ramón Tebar who is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of Opera Naples and Artistic Director of Spain’s Arantzazu Festival. The cast includes Ginger Costa-Jackson (Carmen), Rafael Davila (Don José), Alexander Birch Elliott (Escamillo), and Marina and Miriam Costa-Jackson (alternating as Micaëla).
In addition to directing, Todaro collaborated with costume designer Camilla Heath to create a visual aesthetic that evokes the grit and urgency of the Spanish Civil War while remaining true to the period. Choreographer Rosa Mercedes infuses the production with powerful physicality, complemented by Brittany Rappise’s expressive wig and makeup design and Robert Wierzel’s evocative lighting, which together enhance the atmospheric world on stage. The set was designed by the late Scenic Designer Allen Charles Klein (1938–2023), the only American designer to have dedicated his entire career exclusively to opera production design.
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