As Bizet’s masterpiece reaches this milestone anniversary, Jon Tolansky sits down with the musical minds behind the Royal opera House’s upcoming revival, Sir Mark Elder and Aigul Akhmetshina, to delve into the psyche of this composer – and his entrancing protagonist. ‘A savage; half gypsy, half Andalusian; sensual, mocking, shameless; believing neither in God nor in the Devil... she is the veritable prostitute of the gutter and the crossroads’. These words from journalist and opera librettist Achille de Lauzières in La Patrie are just one of many similar comments made by critics attending the world premiere of Georges Bizet’s Carmen...