When Grace Bumbry performed Carmen under Karajan in 1966/67, she was the shooting star of the international opera scene. Her career almost seems like a fairy tale: Due to racial segregation, she could not begin her studies at the St. Louis Institute of Music in the USA, although she had already won a radio competition at the age of 17. Against this background, one has to see her later triumphs. She celebrated her breakthrough in Bayreuth, where Wieland Wagner brought her for his Tannhäuser and where the press praised her as the “black Venus” and the audience clapped her in front of the curtain 40 times. Many have had great careers. Grace Bumbry’s was more than that: it was significant – and Carmen was one of her finest moments.
Le Concert de Paris 2021
It is now a well-established tradition: every year, on July 14, the Orchestre National de France welcomes the summer with a large musical gathering at the foot of the Eiffel Tower with stunning fireworks. Conducted by Simone Young, and accompanied by the Chorus of Radio France, the orchestra invites the audience around the world, to experience great arias and famous concert pieces in the company of prestigious soloists like Pretty Yende, Piotr Beczala, Renaud Capuçon, Ksenija Sidorova, Clementine Margaine, and Ibrahim Maalouf!