There aren’t many top-tier sopranos ready to risk taking on Carmen and then there’s Danielle de Niese. De Niese has long been known for her acting chops, stage presence and personal glamour. Could she also make this role, usually the province of mezzos, her own?

Rhetorical question.

Given the gift of this new Opera Australia production, directed by Anne-Louise Sarks, designed by Marg Horwell and conducted with enormous sensitivity by Lidiya Yankovskaya, de Niese is a Carmen for today. For right now. 

In a couple of spots she is less powerful right at the bottom of her range than might be ideal but she has warmth and sensuality to burn, along with an actor’s forensic understanding of text (and great French). Mostly, the orchestration gives De Niese all the space she
needs to bring her incandescent Carmen to full, complex existence.

Danielle de Niese as Carmen and Richard Anderson (Zuniga) in Opera Australia’s Carmen. Photo © Keith Saunders

Yankovskaya, conducting the Opera Australia Orchestra, favours lightness and clarity without any loss of momentum. De Niese is supported but there are new insights too into often-heard music. There is often an attractive lacy...