About the work
Carmen is a ballet by the Swedish choreographer Mats Ek, created in 1992 for the Cullberg Ballet. It is danced to Rodion Shchedrin's Carmen Suite (after Georges Bizet). To mark Ek's 80th birthday, Ballett Zürich staged the choreography for the first time in 2025, with the choreographer and his wife, the dancer Ana Laguna, who danced Carmen in 1992, overseeing the restaging in person.
Plot
Mats Ek follows closely Prosper Mérimée's story, on which Bizet's opera is also based: in the moment before his execution, Don José recalls his history with Carmen. In a revue-like flashback, the relationship between the freedom-loving Carmen and the obsessive José unfolds to its deadly end. Ek avoids the usual Carmen clichés, plays with classical gender roles and arrives at a deeply human, radical reading of the character.
Cultural significance
Ek's Carmen is regarded as one of the significant narrative ballets of the late twentieth century and is celebrated across Europe. More than three decades after its premiere, the interpretation has lost none of its freshness or relevance. The 2025 Zürich staging for Ek's 80th birthday brought the work to the Opernhaus Zürich for the first time, where it is shown in the double bill Oiseaux Rebelles.