Orfeo and Qays are two poets of legend who celebrate love and unity through music. Their songs resonate from East to West and back. An ancient Greek myth intertwines with an oriental love story; Orfeo & Majnun is an intercultural and interdisciplinary project. It includes a parade in the streets of Aix-en-Provence with animal puppets and a performance streamed live on OperaVision from Aix’s famous Cours Mirabeau.

Among Seville’s cigar makers, Carmen is the most attractive woman around. Arrested for the assault of a friend, she enthralls the brigadier Don José who lets her escape. For her, José abandons his childhood sweetheart, he gives up his rank, deserts the army… and to what ends will passion drive him when he loses Carmen's love to the glamorous bullfighter Escamillo? We can only imagine the reactions of the first Parisian audiences at the Opéra Comique, who are said to have been shocked to see the incarnation of such an independent heroine. But what would those audiences in 1875 have actually seen on stage? With the support of Palazzetto Bru Zane (Centre de Musique Romantique Française), Opéra de Rouen Normandie have (re)created Bizet’s Carmen with the original costumes, sets and staging of the 1875 premiere.