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
Sylvie Brunet title-role of "Carmen" at the Zürich Opera House, the role of Suzuki in "Madame Butterfly" at the Paris Opera directed by Bob Wilson, Madame de Croissy in "Dialogues des Carmélites" at the Paris Opera and the Zürich Opera, Santuzza in "Cavalleria Rusticana" at the Séville Opera, Marguerite in "La Damnation de Faust" in Zürich and eventually the title role in Meyerbeer's "l'Africaine" at the Opéra national du Rhin. Noticed by Sergio Segalini, she is invited to sing Azucena in Verdi's "Il trovatore" at the Martina Franca Festival. On this occasion, an Italian critic wrote of her: "Verdi has finally found