They’re back! The cigar-rolling gypsy temptress with the short attention span and her mother-fixated, at-first-unwilling slave. To the title role, J’Nai Bridges brings her contralto timbre and a smoky sensuality. As the depressive yet volatile Don José, Michael Fabiano has heartbreaking notes and intensity to spare. The wild card for listeners on this side of the Atlantic is Adam Palka, a Polish bass with extensive European credits, including a Faust Méphistophélès masquerading as the Man of Sorrows, hurling doom from under a crown of thorns. His assignment here is Escamillo, the bull-fighting sex symbol, Carmen’s next soulmate. —M.G.