Femme fatale finds love and death over the ocean

Carmen, the passionate femme fatale from Georges Bizet's best-known opera, finds love and death in Cuba – surrounded by portraits of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro.

A company from the Latvian capital, Riga, has put on the world-famous opera at the Bolshoi Theatre as part of a season of Latvian culture in Moscow. In doing so they've moved the story from Spain to Cuba.

Latvians are traditionally thought of as calm and reserved, but when it comes to Carmen it's all about fever and passion.

Cuba was once a Spanish colony and the musical style of habanera, as featured in the opera, was brought to Spain from Cuba.
There are many more things connecting the two countries. The main one is an overwhelming desire for love and freedom.

“The Cubans historically originated from Spain. Carmen sings about freedom somewhere behind the mountains. In our version it's freedom across the sea,” said Andrejs Zagars, the opera’s director.