This week the Rome Opera opens a new production of Bizet’s “Carmen” at the Caracalla with an intriguing young cast. However, what will be most excited to see is Argentine director Valentina Carrasco´s vision for the work.

The Latin American director will bring her Latin flare to the famed Bizet opera in her first production, which will feature a Dia de Los Muertos theme and, unlike many productions nowadays, this will have a colorful tinge showing the vivacity of the character. The production will also mark Carrasco´s return to the house and her first time directing at the Caracalla.

Carrasco has been hailed for her visual style and for having worked with La Fura dels Baus. Unlike many directors, Carrasco is versatile as she studied dance, music, video, film and literature and thus has used her knowledge to create visually compelling productions.

Among her work are productions of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” at the Ruhr Triennale in 2004, at the Teatro Real in Madrid in 2005 and at Paris Opera House in 2005 and 2008.  Additionally, she made the staging of singers and participated in the creation of “Das Rheingold” and “Die Walküre” for the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, with the musical direction of Zubin Mehta. Additionally, she directed the world premiere of a new version of Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and obtained great success and was later released on DVD.

Other productions include “Le Grand Macabre” by György Ligeti for La Monnaie in Brussels, the Rome Opera, the English National Opera in London, the Liceo of Barcelona and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires as well as Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw” at Opéra de Lyon and “Don Giovanni” in Perm Opera and Ballet Theater.