Opera in the Quarry 2023: Georges Bizet's CARMEN

In 2023, Georges Bizet's CARMEN brings the rugged rocky landscape of the St. Margarethen Quarry to life.

Two young, very different people meet on the streets of Seville on a scorching hot summer evening: the fateful love of the impulsive factory worker Carmen and the undaunted Sergeant José pulls the unlikely couple into a whirlpool of love, jealousy, hate and disgust. In the end, the honest soldier murders the woman who has never really loved anything or anyone – apart from her boundless freedom.

For this limitless love, Georges Bizet created an equally boundless score featuring a wealth of grandiose melodies: Habanera, Flower and Toreador Song, Seguidilla, the Smuggler's March – all these sonorous masterpieces will find their own echoes in the both wild and gentle landscape of the St. Margarethen Quarry, who thus becomes a parable for the most fascinating figure of the opera stage.

Ever since 1996, the Opera in the Quarry has been a favourite meeting place for international opera lovers. This open-air stage covers an area of 7,000 m2, which gives it a wonderful acoustic and inspires feelings of awe. The natural and man-made architecture of the quarry enhances the emotional impact of the music on the nearly 5,000 opera-goers in the audience every year.

Embedded in the landscape of Lake Neusiedl, this region is an UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Landscape. It represents “outstanding value to humanity”, with St. Margarethen providing a fascinating insight into our geological past.