Carmen, that beguiling Andalusian beauty created by a 19th-century French writer and afterwards made legendary by artists of different nationalities—in opera, dance, and film—continues to fascinate.

Operagoers who think that Bizet’s “Carmen” is Spanish should be sure ... plunges into the death-haunted essence of flamenco, its gritty harshness underpinning even its moments of lyricism.