Michele Spotti Opens Palau de les Arts with His First 'Carmen'

Conductor Michele Spotti opens the Palau de les Arts in Valencia this season with a new production of Bizet's "Carmen" — the first time he has ever conducted the opera. The performance carries particular weight for him: "Carmen" was the first opera he heard as a child, and, as he told OperaWire, "it was the work that made me fall in love with opera."

The Valencia premiere crowns a rapid rise. Spotti is Music Director of Marseille's Opera House and Philharmonic Orchestra and was recently appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. His conducting credits include the Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the Festival Verdi di Parma and the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

What does the new Berlin role involve?

At the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Spotti has recently conducted "Lucia di Lammermoor" and will soon lead "La traviata" and "Don Carlo." "What interests me most is not simply bringing my experience of Italian repertoire to Berlin, but putting it into dialogue with a great orchestra and with the particular tradition of this house," he said.

He credits the Berlin musicians' "extraordinary desire to work" and "the intensity and speed of communication within the orchestra." The position also serves his longer-term goal: "For me, one of the most important goals for a conductor is to develop a personal sound, and this is something that can only be built over time, through a long relationship with an orchestra and through different repertoires."

How is he building the Marseille orchestra?

In Marseille, Spotti's season mixes "Don Carlo" and "Maria Stuarda" with symphonic projects spanning Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring," several Mahler symphonies and a new focus on Brahms. He inherited an ensemble with "a strong foundation and a high level of cohesion" built by previous music directors.

His strategy has been to recruit young musicians alongside veterans. "I think this has brought greater technical brilliance and helped raise the overall level of the orchestra, which was already very good," he said. The aim, he added, is "not changing what the orchestra is, but continuing to make it grow."

Why is this 'Carmen' personal for him?

Spotti frames Bizet as "an extraordinarily European composer": Italianate vocal writing, French orchestration and a Germanic symphonic power. "I want to make this 'Carmen' very personal, through my choices of tempo, colour and phrasing, while respecting the extraordinary identity of Bizet's music," he said.

Among his favourite moments, he cites the opening scene's descending violin triplets — "so simple and yet so unmistakably French" — and the Act 2 duet in which Carmen dances while distant trumpets sound the retreat. "It is almost elementary in its musical construction, and yet the effect is incredibly powerful," he said.

The production will also restore a few bars from Bizet's original version at the end of the third act, with Escamillo singing the Toreador song offstage against the intensifying drama of Don José and Micaëla. "For me, it is a brilliant psychological effect and a wonderful example of Bizet's dramatic intelligence," Spotti said.

Who sings in Valencia?

The four principals are Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, Charles Castronovo, Ruth Iniesta and Davide Luciano. "I feel a great deal of trust from them in my musical choices and in my tempi — and I have to admit that some of my tempi can be quite demanding to sustain!" Spotti said. Ted Huffman directs; the conductor praises his "ability as a theatre director to find quick and convincing solutions to every situation."

What else is on his calendar?

The season includes Wagner's "Lohengrin" in Toulouse, following "Das Rheingold" in Marseille, Mahler's First Symphony, Mendelssohn with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and first engagements in Hong Kong and Japan with the NHK Orchestra.

"What excites me most is precisely this variety," Spotti said. "Different repertoires, different orchestras and different musical cultures keep me curious, and that is what I find most stimulating about this profession."