February 23 performance webcast for free on dso.org, YouTube, and via Facebook Live as a part of DSO’s Live from Orchestra Hall series
Tickets on sale now at dso.org
Detroit, (January 29, 2025) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and Music Director Jader Bignamini will celebrate the 150th anniversary of George Bizet’s Carmen with a concert presentation of the iconic opera at Orchestra Hall on February 21 and 23. Part of the PVS Classical Series, the program will be conducted by Bignamini and feature an all-star cast of vocalists.
The DSO will welcome J’Nai Bridges to sing the role of Carmen, Russell Thomas as Don José, Ailyn Pérez as Micaëla, Paulo Szot as Escamillo, Meghan Picerno as Frasquita, Leonardo Neiva as Morales & Dancairo, Saverio Fiore as Remendado, Briana Hunter as Mercedes, and Sergio Martinez as Zuniga. The performance will also feature two local vocal ensembles, Audivi and the Ann Arbor Youth Chorale.
Bignamini has conducted some of the world’s most acclaimed opera companies including Opera de Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, and Dutch National Opera. Prior to his appointment as DSO Music Director, Bignamini was introduced to Detroit audiences when he memorably stepped in for DSO Music Director Laureate Leonard Slatkin to close the 2017–2018 season with concert performances of Puccini’s Turandot.
Bizet’s Carmen will take place Friday, February 21 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, February 23 at 3 p.m. in Orchestra Hall. The Sunday, February 23 performance webcast for free on dso.org, YouTube, and via Facebook Live as a part of DSO’s Live from Orchestra Hall series.
Tickets for these performances start at $20 and can be purchased at dso.org or by calling the Box Office at 313.576.5111, open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The title sponsor of the DSO’s Classical Series is PVS Chemicals, Inc. DSO Live is presented by Ford Philanthropy. Technology support comes from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Digital programming is produced from the Al Glancy Control Room.
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PVS Classical
Friday, February 21 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, February 23 at 3 p.m.
Orchestra Hall
Experience the timeless delights and drama of Bizet’s Carmen in concert at Orchestral Hall. Jader Bignamini leads an all-star cast with the DSO in a performance celebrating the famous opera’s 150th anniversary. Mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges has “the allure, fiery stage presence, and a stunning voice at its prime” (Chicago Tribune) required for the title role.
J’Nai Bridges, Carmen
Russell Thomas, Don José
Ailyn Pérez, Micaëla
Paulo Szot, Escamillo
Meghan Picerno, Frasquita
Leonardo Neiva, Morales & Dancairo
Saverio Fiore, Remendado
Briana Hunter, Mercedes
Sergio Martinez, Zuniga
GEORGES BIZET Carmen
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About Jader Bignamini
Jader Bignamini was introduced as the 18th music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in January 2020, commencing with the 2020–2021 season. His infectious passion and artistic excellence set the tone for the seasons ahead, creating extraordinary music and establishing a close relationship with the orchestra. A jazz aficionado, he has immersed himself in Detroit’s rich jazz culture and the influences of American music.
A native of Crema, Italy, Bignamini studied at the Piacenza Music Conservatory and began his career as a musician (clarinet) with Orchestra Sinfonica La Verdi in Milan, later serving as the group’s resident conductor. Captivated by the works of legends like Mahler and Tchaikovsky, Bignamini explored their complexity and power, puzzling out the role that each instrument played in creating a larger-than-life sound. When he conducted his first professional concert at the age of 28, it didn’t feel like a departure, but an arrival.
In the years since, Bignamini has conducted some of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras and opera companies in venues across the globe including working with Riccardo Chailly on concerts of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in 2013 and his concert debut at La Scala in 2015 for the opening season of La Verdi Orchestra. Recent highlights include debuts with Opera de Paris conducting La Forza del Destino and with Deutsche Opera Berlin conducting Simon Boccanegra; appearances with the Pittsburgh and Toronto symphonies; debuts with the Houston, Dallas, and Minnesota symphonies; Osaka Philharmonic and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo; with the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, and Dutch National Opera (Madama Butterfly); Bayerische Staatsoper (La Traviata); I Puritani in Montpellier for the Festival of Radio France; Traviata in Tokyo directed by Sofia Coppola; return engagements with Oper Frankfurt (La forza del destino) and Santa Fe Opera (La bohème); Manon Lescaut at the Bolshoi; Traviata, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot at Arena of Verona; Il Trovatore and Aida at Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera; Madama Butterfly, I Puritani, and Manon Lescaut at Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Simon Boccanegra and La Forza del destino at the Verdi Festival in Parma; Ciro in Babilonia at Rossini Opera Festival; and La bohème, Madama Butterfly, and Elisir d’amore at La Fenice in Venice.
When Bignamini leads an orchestra in symphonic repertoire, he conducts without a score, preferring to make direct eye contact with the musicians. He conducts from the heart, forging a profound connection with his musicians that shines through both onstage and off. He both embodies and exudes the excellence and enthusiasm that has long distinguished the DSO’s artistry.
About the DSO
The acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra is known for trailblazing performances, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and a deep connection to its city. Led by Music Director Jader Bignamini since 2020, the DSO makes its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, offering a robust performance schedule that features classical, pops, jazz, and family concerts, plus community performances. Enrico Lopez-Yañez was named Principal Pops Conductor in 2023, trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard serves as the orchestra’s Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair, and Tabita Berglund began her tenure as Principal Guest Conductor in the 2024–25 season. A dedication to broadcast innovation and technology began in 1922, when the DSO became the first orchestra in the world to present a live radio broadcast of a concert and continues today with the groundbreaking Live from Orchestra Hall series of free webcasts.
The DSO’s distinguished history of recordings—many led by its renowned music directors—spans nearly a century, beginning with the orchestra’s first 78 rpm singles with Ossip Gabrilowitsch released on the Victrola label in 1928. A steady recording output has continued since then, with highlights including more than 20 releases with Paul Paray for Mercury’s Living Presence series, and 27 under the baton of Neeme Järvi, mostly on the Chandos label. In the 1970s, the DSO took part in the historic Black Composers Series for Columbia Records led by its then-Associate Conductor Paul Freeman and later made several acclaimed recordings with Antal Doráti for the Decca label. More recently, under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, the DSO recorded music by Rachmaninoff, Copland, and John Williams for the Naxos label, earning its first GRAMMY® nomination in 2017 for Copland’s Third Symphony / Three Latin American Sketches. The first recording with Jader Bignamini, of Wynton Marsalis’s Blues Symphony, will be released in 2025 on the Pentatone label.
Since its first school concerts a century ago, and particularly since the founding of the Civic Youth Ensembles in 1970, the DSO has been a national leader in bringing the benefits of music education to students, teachers, and families in Detroit and surrounding communities. The DSO remains committed to expanding its participation in the growth and well-being of Detroit through programs like its Detroit Neighborhood Initiative—cultural events co-created with community partners and residents—and Detroit Harmony, a promise to provide an instrument and instruction to any student in the city who wants to learn. With unwavering support from the people of Detroit, the DSO actively pursues a mission to impact lives through the power of unforgettable musical experiences.