Soprano Asmik Grigorian to lead 'Carmen' and sing mezzo-soprano role this summerSoprano Asmik Grigorian is to sing the title role in Georges Bizet's “Carmen,” a mezzo-soprano touchstone, for the first time at the Salzburg Festival this summerByRONALD BLUM Associated PressDecember 26, 2025, 2:19 PMNEW YORK -- NEW YORK (AP) — Asmik Grigorian is reaching a new low – in a positive way — and doing it on one of the world’s top stages. A star soprano, she will sing the title role next summer in Georges Bizet’s “Carmen,” a mezzo-soprano touchstone, at the Salzburg Festival.“I thought if I want to do ‘Carmen’ I need to do it now because I don’t want to do when I will be 54,” the 44-year-old Grigorian said ahead of a concert this weekend at New York's Carnegie Hall. Maria Callas, Leontyne Price, Jessye Norman and Angela Gheorghiu all recorded Carmen but never sang the complete role on stage. Ana María Martinez and Danielle de Niese are the most notable sopranos in recent years to have sung live performances of the famous seductress, while Victoria de los Ángeles took it on late in her career in the 1970s, and Geraldine Farrar and Rosa Ponselle performed it decades earlier. Grigorian is to sing eight “Carmen” performances starting July 26 in a new production by Gabriela Carrizo with Jonathan Tetelman as Don José, Kristina Mkhitaryan as Micaëla, with Teodor Currentzis conducting the Utopia Orchestra.“I would not bet against her,” Metropolitan Opera's general manager Peter Gelb said. “She’s very much of a kind of old-school singer. She’s kind of fearless when it comes to taking on new repertoire.”Grigorian will be singing at Carnegie Hall on Saturday alongside Thomas Hampson, Sondra Radvanovsky, Nadine Sierra, Brian Jagde and Anita Monserrat, an unusually timed performance during a period when peripatetic singers often are home for the holidays.
