Opera lovers around the world will have seen Carmen being killed by her jealous ex-lover, Don José – a fate that Bizet’s famous character tragically shares with many women in 2024. Don't miss this much talked about performance opera when it returns to Copenhagen Opera Festival.

The murder of women is often part of opera's tragic love stories, including George Bizet's 'Carmen' from 1875. The tumultuous romance and wonderful music and singing downplay the morbidity—but in the real world, a woman is killed by her partner every 20 minutes.

'The Undoing of Carmen' challenges the romanticization of partner killing, and it was on everyone's lips following last year's premiere on the Festival Stage. This year, the opera, directed by Anna Sofie Keller and interweaving new compositions with excerpts from Bizet's classic, is moving to Betty Nansen Teatret's second stage, Edison.

Intimate partner killings are not isolated tragedies but typically follow a pattern with eight predictable steps, as identified by criminologist Jane Monckton Smith. ‘The Undoing of Carmen’ uses the dramaturgy of this pattern to analyse Bizet's drama. We just might notice a familiar development from courting to controlling, from violence to murder. The three soloists take turns embodying the perpetrator, victim, and martyr, bringing to life a different and unsettling opera performance.