THE Royal Opera has produced a stunning production of the opera Carmen which will be broadcast live from Covent Garden at Cardigan’s Theatr Mwldan on Tuesday March 6 (6.45pm).

Carmen is the best-known work by French composer Georges Bizet, and one of the most famous operas in the entire art form – numbers such as the Habanera and the Toreador Song have permeated the popular consciousness as little else has.

The opera’s heady combination of passion, sensuality and violence initially proved too much for the stage, and it was a critical failure on its 1875 premiere.

Bizet died shortly after and never learned of the spectacular success his Carmen would achieve: the opera has been performed more than 500 times at Covent Garden alone.

This ever-popular opera is given a fresh point of view in Barrie Kosky’s highly physical production, with Anna Goryachova as Carmen and Francesco Meli as Don José, conducted by Jakub Hrusa.

Australian director Kosky is one of the world’s most sought-after opera directors. For Carmen he has devised a far from traditional version, incorporating music written by Bizet for the score but not usually heard, and giving a new voice to the opera’s endlessly fascinating central character.

The young soldier Don José intends to marry Micaëla, a girl from his home village. But when he meets the sensual and fiercely independent Carmen, he sacrifices everything to be with her.

Carmen grows bored of Don José and falls in love with Escamillo. Unable to bear her leaving him, Don José tracks down Carmen.

Tickets for Royal Opera House screenings are £16 (£15) and are available now from Theatr Mwldan’s Box Office on 01239 621200, online at www.mwldan.co.uk or via the new Mwldan app.

The Royal Opera House leads the way for world-class opera and ballet to be experienced in cinemas and on a variety of digital platforms. More than 400,000 people in the UK saw a Royal Opera or Royal Ballet production in their local cinema during the 2015/16 season.