This week Oper Im Steinbruch will open a new production of Bizet’s “Carmen.” The production will feature a soprano in the title role, something that is rarely heard today. And the soprano in question will be Joyce El-Khoury, who is making her role debut.

Throughout the past years, El-Khoury has performed a variety of operas that have included the works of Verdi, Massenet, Bizet, Jake Heggie, Puccini, and Donizetti and has also been featured in world premiere projects such as Liszt’s “Sardanapalo” and Donizettit’s “L’Ange de Nisida.”

Now El-Khoury is following in the footsteps of such sopranos as Victoria de Los Angeles and Ana Maria Martinez who have performed the opera to acclaim, as well as Maria Callas, Jessye Norman, and Angela Gheorghiu, who recorded the iconic work.

The momentousness of the event is not lost on El-Khoury. She told OperaWire, “As a teenager growing up, I wanted to be a pop singer. I spent my time singing Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey covers. I had high hopes for a career in this genre. When the time came to apply for university programs, I was being pragmatic and chose to apply to nursing school. My parents, however, had some sort of divine insight come upon them because they persuaded me to pursue music instead of nursing. They said, ‘Joyce, you have a voice and it would be a shame if you didn’t use it.’ At the time I had been taking voice lessons with Karen Spicer, a classically trained soprano in Ottawa who quickly became a dear mentor and a very positive influence in my life. She prepared me for my audition by teaching me some opera arias and lieder.”

She added, “I auditioned for the Voice Performance program and I was accepted. At that time I still could not read music, and I had zero interest in opera. I thought to myself ‘Well, a music education can surely be beneficial for my pop career.’ Funny how life works… Fast forward a few weeks, I arrive at Ottawa University and begin attending a class led by the great mezzo-soprano Sandra Graham called ‘Opera Workshop’ where we would learn and perform opera scenes. The first opera we did was ‘Carmen,’ and I was given the Habanera and the Card Aria to sing. This is what changed the entire course of my life. I fell madly in love with opera through ‘Carmen,’ and I have never looked back since. Needless to say, Carmen means a lot to me and I owe this character and her music more than I can express.”

The soprano also told OperaWire that she believed that singing Carmen as a soprano is special because the role is more about passion and character than the range. She said, “Historically, there have been many greats who have sung Carmen as sopranos. The gift that Carmen gives is that she allows for the individuality of the woman and the artist to come through. Carmen’s power lies in her character, her passion, and her authenticity. For me, it is about the personality and color of the voice more than it is about range. Carmen herself does not allow anyone or anything to box her in. She certainly wouldn’t want to be boxed in vocally either. That’s her power and her beauty.”

For those not in Burgenland for El-Khoury’s debut, the opera is set to be live-streamed and made available for DVD. Additionally, the soprano has a number of promising debuts in the coming season including “Don Carlo” in Monte Carlo and “Norma” in Greece.

Recordings 

For those interested in hearing more of El-Khoury’s work, the soprano has recordings of “Belisario,” “L’Ange de Nisida,” “Les Martyrs” and “Sardanapalo.”

Here she is in excerpts from “Il Trovatore” and “Tosca.”