Killing Carmen - Volksoper Wien - 2026 & 2027

Volksoper Wien, Wien

“I’ve already been warned that I should fear for my life,” Carmen explains—foreseeing her own doom—in the finale of Bizet’s “opera of all operas.” A few minutes later, she is dead, stabbed to death by her former lover, Don José. Is this a crime of passion or a crisis of society? Does freedom itself die with Carmen? What void does she leave behind? What happens next?

Following their two successful productions , *The Magic Flute – The opera but not the opera* and *The Chess Story* at the Burgtheater, Nils Strunk and Lukas Schrenk are now adapting a repertoire classic for the Volksoper. Together with musician Gabriel Cazes, they are developing a new adaptation of *Carmen* for a cross-genre ensemble. Bizet’s famous melodies meet a wide variety of musical styles: jazz, flamenco, Western, musical theater, pop, chanson, and much more.