Dancers: Anna Tsygankova and Giorgi Potskhishvili | Photo: Hugo Thomassen Ballets with Spanish flair Paquita Choreography Marius Petipa, adapted by Rachel Beaujean Music Edward Deldevez and Ludwig Minkus Set and costume design François-Noël Cherpin Lighting design Hans-Åke Sjöquist Carmen Choreography Ted Brandsen Music Rodion Shchedrin, after Georges Bizet Set design Andrew Carter Costume design François-Noël Cherpin Lighting design Bert Dalhuysen Musical accompaniment Dutch Ballet Orchestra conducted by Matthew Rowe Performance for schools We offer an exclusive school matinee of Carmen for primary school and first-year secondary school students. See: operaballet.nl/en/ school-performances Premiere 10/2/2026 Subsequent performances: 12, 13, 15*, 18, 19, 21, 22*, 28 February, 1*, 3, 4 March 2026 | Curtain-up: 20:15 / *14:00 | Ticket sales start on: 28 August 2025 | Price Category: B | Location: Main Stage, Dutch National Opera & Ballet Say ‘Carmen’, and many people think of the femme fatale who dances on tabletops with a rose in her hair. Ted Brandsen, however, sees her more as a strong, independent woman. Brandsen created his Carmen in 2000 for West Australian Ballet, where he was artistic director at the time. The ballet, set to Rodion Shchedrin’s arrangement of the opera Carmen, won the Australian Dance Award. In his ballet, Brandsen deliberately renounces all the clichés surrounding Carmen. He has reduced the story of the tobacco factory worker and her admirer Don José to its essence: obsessive love. “The tragedy of wanting to hold on to someone, and ruining things for precisely that reason”, says Brandsen. Via sultry duets and dynamic group sections, the ballet journeys inevitably towards the final catastrophe. Flawless technique In the original version from 1846, Marius Petipa’s Paquita is a rather long-winded love story about a Spanish gypsy girl and a young officer. However, the dazzling section of pure dance added by the choreographer in 1881 is a challenge that today’s dancers love to take up, as the virtuoso Grand Pas Classique demands flawless technique. In 2012, associate artistic director Rachel Beaujean took a fresh approach to it, saying, “You have to give a ballet like this the panache that fits with the times.” So besides all the elegance and grandeur – Paquita takes place at the Spanish court – it’s also very important for the dancers to have sensuality, humour and acting ability. A double bill that makes the sun shine brightly Ballets that immediately make you feel you’re in the sunny south. That’s how we’ll warm up our audiences at the beginning of 2026, when we’re reviving one of our biggest audience hits: Ted Brandsen’s lively, passionate Carmen. It’s combined with Marius Petipa’s glittering Paquita, in an adaptation by Rachel Beaujean that lends fresh panache to the grandeur of this classic. “Brandsen’s Carmen is a timeless tragedy, never more relevant than today. It is a tale of desire, seduction, jealousy and betrayal” Opus Arte 85
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