Carmen Uncorked

Artwork by Christian Casas on display at the Cincinnati Opera’s Young Professionals Singers and Spirits

March 12, 2026

To bring ceramic tile and opera into conversation may at first seem odd. What does a visual artist’s ceramic work have to say in relation to Bizet’s Carmen? In order to explore this question, Christian Casas was invited to bring a selection of artworks to display at the Cincinnati Opera YP’s recent Singers and Spirits: Carmen Uncorked. The Singers and Spirits series is a wonderful bite-sized way to enjoy a high art form in a more intimate setting; this edition was hosted by Revel in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati. 

Carmen, the titular character in the opera is shaped and constrained by her identity, placing her in a vulnerable position to exploitation. Bringing these classic questions of how culture can shape identity into our current climate, Casas dives into exploration through his self-taught use of craft and storytelling. At the event, he spoke on this relationship his work shares with that of Carmen, saying: “My work addresses questions of freedom, power: particularly through migration histories and cultural identity which parallels the central conflict in Carmen where desire, jealousy, and autonomy collide.”