Carmen: Becoming Carmen First day of rehearsal with Katia Ledoux

„It’s primarily about you having heels. Exactly ... so I can get used to it. I don’t think people don’t realize how often my shoes are getting tied for me and how rarely opera singers actually tie their own shoes. Actually, that’s embarrassing ... Are we starting? What did you prepare? I started analyzing Carmen as a figure of flesh and blood What does this woman want? What drives her? Why does she make the choices that she makes? But at a certain point I get stuck all the time. And then I thought: Well, that makes sense, because in the end she is created to be an opera character of the 19th century, she is a “male fantasy”. So that is one part. The other part: If she were a character, what I find super interesting about her is the one title, that this piece has for her, which is „la liberté“. A working-class woman, a minority, she doesn’t want to be suppressed, she doesn’t want to be instrumentalized, she doesn’t want to be used. And I admire that about her. What I’m lacking is to understand what she does want. So, once you have that freedom, what are you going to do with it? That is basically the foundation; a blank canvas on which everyone projects their idea of Carmen. She starts with a cigarette girl costume, then she gets Don José's jacket, and each time, another layer is added, and so we work from this foundation. So, the corset is between the third and fourth act. Oh, you are making it really tight! Actually, it helps me so much with singing. The more it supports me ... I don’t have to work on my vocal support so much. I basically have to do nothing and still... It’s great that we are performing it in the coldest of seasons. Do we like it, that it’s so big? I like big butts ... I would like to make her a bit rounder and a bit more friendly. Absolutely. I think also because ... bodywise: I am a big black woman, if I start of like … I absolutely agree. For me, in my reading of Carmen, up until Don José fucks everything up in the second act, I would see Carmen as actively flirting with Zuniga, because as long as he is in the pocket … And yet when he confronts her to say: You fought with another woman! Instead of saying: Oh, Mr. strong officer ... You say: Go fuck yourself, right? Yeah, but with a smile. Yes, but you know that you are pushing all his buttons. Get a rope! She’s quick to lash out! And you are thinking: No matter what I say, I can have the best witnesses, you are always gonna win, but I don’t want to be suppressed, so: Lala Lalalalala ... I was so nervous at the beginning, because it was my first full Carmen rehearsal. Carmen is a role that is so personal; I believe every woman has a different idea of Carmen. My Carmen has softness, has fun. This joy of life, this playfulness, I think, is very important for my Carmen in the first act.”