Le docteur Miracle & Djamileh

Michael Rosewell conductor

“A per formance of terrific vivacity and energy from the RCM students…
a toothsome pre-Christmas treat” – Independent on Sunday on the RCM’s
production of Orpheus in the Underworld

For our pre-Christmas offering, we’re delighted to present an unmissable double bill of contrasting Bizet rarities, written at either end of the composer’s career.

The wonder fully witty operetta Le docteur Miracle – possibly the only opera in the canon to feature an omelette in a starring role! – was written by the 18-year-old Bizet for a competition run by Offenbach to find the next great French opera composer. Needless to say, the precociously talented Bizet waltzed off with the prize for this enormously entertaining romp. Djamileh is the penultimate opera Bizet wrote, completed just before his final masterpiece Carmen. This tale of an Egyptian slave girl’s attempts to woo her master contains some of Bizet’s most wonder ful music, and has been hailed as one of the great expressions of exoticism in music. With recent RCM productions of operettas by Offenbach and G&S receiving huge acclaim on both sides of the English channel, this is the perfect opportunity to discover a pair of hidden gems.