[Met Performance] CID:243400



Carmen
Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, November 21, 1975

Debut : José Van Dam




Carmen (732)
Georges Bizet | Henri Meilhac/Ludovic Halévy
Carmen
Régine Crespin

Don José
James McCracken

Micaela
Lucine Amara

Escamillo
José Van Dam [Debut]

Frasquita
Alma Jean Smith

Mercédès
Cynthia Munzer

Remendado
Andrea Velis

Dancaïre
Russell Christopher

Zuniga
Andrij Dobriansky

Moralès
Gene Boucher

Lillas Pastia
Paul Franke


Conductor
Henry Lewis







Review 1:

Review of John Rockwell in The New York Times

José Van Dam, the Belgian bass who made his Metropolitan Opera debut Friday night as Escamillo in "Carmen," is the leading singer of the role in the world today and on Friday he showed why.

Escamillo is hardly all simpleminded, stentorian bravado. The range is treacherously wide, from solid bass to high baritone, and there is as much demand for soft, sensitive singing as for swagger and bluster. Most Escamillos content themselves with belting out the top notes and doing a lot of cape-swirling and let the rest fall where it will.

Mr. Van Dam s high bass encompasses the top of the part a bit better than the very bottom. It is a large, mellow instrument, able to modulate smoothly into soft singing. And his stage presence made the matador a fully commanding figure without falling into macho cheapness.



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