Carmen at Cincinnati Music Hall

Mezzo-soprano Stacey Rishoi takes on the title role with an “emotionally expressive voice and a dramatic stage presence” (Washington Post). Tenor William Burden returns after a “superb” performance (Cincinnati Enquirer) as Lensky in Eugene Onegin (2011) to reprise the role of the tortured Don José. Daniel Okulitch brings “a beautiful, expressive dark bass-baritone voice” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) to the role of the toreador Escamillo. Soprano Jessica Rivera, whose last Cincinnati Opera appearance was the luminous portrayal of Kumudha in A Flowering Tree (2011), lends her “poised, beautiful singing” (The Boston Herald) to the role of the virtuous Micaela.

Canadian Alain Gauthier, whose inventive stage direction most recently delighted Cincinnati audiences with the 2012 double bill of Pagliacci and Gianni Schicchi, will direct.