Aigul Akhmetshina on bringing Carmen’s Habanera to life at the Met

The mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina, who is performing now at the Metropolitan Opera, described how she approaches Bizet’s Habanera and what she looks for in the role of Carmen. On her self-titled debut album she begins the Habanera by turning the line "L’amour est un oiseau rebelle" into an intense seduction, a reading the critic called nearly definitive for its vocal color, range and mood.

The Habanera’s tune has wide cultural life: it has been used to sell Pepsi (in the voice of Beyoncé), appeared on "Sesame Street," and shown up in figure-skating routines and films such as "Up" and "Trainspotting." Calling the aria "tricky" because "it sounds very simple," Akhmetshina said she reconnects with the material as she steps onstage and decides whether the Habanera will be "grounded, light, aggressive or philosophical." Critics note her "plump" voice with a chiaroscuro balance of light and dark; the piece compares her sound to singers like Teresa Berganza and Agnes Baltsa, while noting different approaches by Shirley Verrett and Marilyn Horne.

She also singled out Julia Migenes for a naturalistic, speechlike delivery. At the Met recently she experimented with holding back vibrato for a more slender sound. She said her own recording now feels "very boring" and that, if she recorded it again, she would soften phrasing and play more with the words.

Key Topics

Culture, Aigul Akhmetshina, Metropolitan Opera, Bizet, Carmen, Habanera