Opera in three acts by Georges Bizet Text by Michel Carré and Eugène Cormon

 

Set in a faraway island paradise, Georges Bizet tells the story of a love triangle complicated by true friendship. Zurga and Nadir are old friends, but in the past they were nearly driven apart by their mutual love for Leïla, a priestess of Brahma sworn to chastity. The two men swore to renounce their love for the beautiful young woman, but neither this promise nor Leïla’s vow of chastity prevents her and Nadir from being overcome by longing when their paths cross again.

 

 

 

They are caught by the high priest, and as the leader of the pearl fishers’ village it falls to Zurga to pass sentence. Torn between friendship and jealousy, between a desire for revenge and a sense of duty, Zurga hesitates over whether to have the oath-breakers executed ... and his indecision grows when he learns that it was Leïla who once saved his life when he was a fugitive on the run from his enemies.

 

»Les pêcheurs de perles« marked the 25-year-old Bizet’s breakthrough as an operatic composer, 12 years prior to achieving global success with »Carmen«. Inspired by a subject matter infused with the exoticism so popular at that time, he produced a captivating score with colourful instrumentation, enchantingly lyrical melodies and powerfully dramatic theatre music, which finds expression both in large-scale choral tableaus and intimate, almost chamber-play-like scenes between the main characters.

 

Both dramatically and musically, the pivotal point of the opera is the famous pearl fishers’ duet »Au fond du temple saint« between Zurga and Nadir, an operatic masterpiece that is the main factor responsible for the rediscovery of this rarely performed opera.

 

 

Composer: Georges Bizet
Librettists: Michel Carré and Eugène Cormon

Conductor: Donato Renzetti
Stage Director: Wim Wenders
Set Designer: David Regehr
Costume Designer: Montserrat Casanova
Lighting Designer: Olaf Freese
Projection Designers: Donata Wenders, Michael Schackwitz
Chorus Master: Samuel Coquard

 

Cast
Leïla Olga (Soprano): Peretyatko-Mariotti / GUO Chengcheng
Nadir (Tenor): Francesco Demuro / Mert Süngü
Zurga (Baritone): Gyula Orendt / ZHOU Zhengzhong
Nourabad (Bass): Paul Gay / GUAN Zhijing