María del Carmen María del Carmen María del Carmen is an opera in three acts composed by Enrique Granados to a Spanish libretto by José Feliú i Codina based on his 1896 play of the same name. It was Granados's first operatic success and although largely forgotten today, he considered it to be his best opera. At the end of its initial run in Madrid where it premiered in 1898, Queen Maria Cristina awarded Granados the Charles III Cross in recognition of his work. The opera, sometimes described as a Spanish version of Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana" with a happy ending, is set in
José Cura Rusticana" and "Pagliacci" at the Met in New York, and "Turandot", "Cavalleria rusticana" and "Pagliacci" in Zurich. Cura continues to tour concert halls and opera houses around the world, performing his signature roles of Otello, Samson, Canio, Turiddu, Don José, Stiffelio, Cavaradossi, Dick Johnson, Calaf, Edgar etc. – debuting in "La Bohème" as Rodolfo at the Zurich Opera House in 2010. He took his "Otello" to the Met in 2013, not before saving the last performance of "Carmen" at the same opera house, a favour which he had been asked to do the very moment he landed in New York,