Organization

Festtage Berlin

Soprano

Olga Peretyatko

Leila

Tenor

Francesco Demuro

Nadir

Baritone

Gyula Orendt

Zurga

Bass

Paul Gay

Nourabad

Stage director

Wim Wenders

Conductor

Victorien Vanoosten

Lighting designer

Olaf Freese

Costume designer

Montserrat Casanova

Set designer

David Regehr

Others

State Opera Chorus

French

Les Pêcheurs de perles -  (The Pearl Fishers)

Berlin

Germany

Les Pêcheurs de perles Bizet

Public

The Pearl Fishers

German

English

Approved

Against the backdrop of a distant island paradise in the southern Indian Ocean, apparently threatened by the forces of nature, Georges Bizet describes a love triangle, complicated by true friendship, between the leader of a pearl fishing village, his childhood friend from the highlands and a priestess who was called to protect the village: Love for the was threatened once before virginly consecrated Brahman Leïla to divide the longtime friends Zurga and Nadir. Although both men have sworn to each other that they will do without the beautiful young woman, neither this promise nor Leïla's vow of chastity can prevent her and Nadir from being overwhelmed by desires one after the other when they meet again. When the couple is caught by the high priest, Zurga, as the leader of the pearl fishing village, is said to impose the death sentence on the two perjurers. Torn between friendship and jealousy, desire for revenge and a sense of duty, Zurga wavers - even more when he learns that it was Leïla who once saved his life as a persecuted refugee -year-old Bizet achieved his breakthrough as an opera composer with his »Pearl Fishers«. Even if he took up the exoticism prevailing in the libretto in his composition in a very subtle way, which was so popular at the time, the material nevertheless inspired him to write a gorgeous score with extremely colorful instrumentation, enchanting lyrical melodies and dramatically effective theater music, which unfolds in large-scale choir tableaus as well as in the very intimate, almost chamber play-like scenes between the protagonists. The dramatic and musical pivotal point here is the famous Perlenfischer duet "Au fond du temple saint" between Zurga and Nadir, in which they renew their oath - a pearl of opera literature that ultimately even leads to the rediscovery of which is still rare today thanks to the opera that was played. MUSICAL DIRECTOR Daniel Barenboim STAGE DESIGN Wim Wenders STAGE DESIGN David Regehr COSTUMES Montserrat Casanova VIDEO PROJECTIONS Donata Wenders & Michael Schackwitz LIGHT Olaf Freese STUDY CHOIR Martin Wright DRAMATURGY Detlef Giese LEÏLA Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti NADIR Francesco Demuro ZURGA Gyula Orendt NOURABAD Wolfgang Schöne STAATSKAPELLE BERLIN STATE OPERA CHOIR Premiere: June 24, 2017 | State Opera in the Schiller Theater Other dates: June 30, July 2 and July 4, 2017

The pearl fishermen | Oper von Georges Bizet | Staatsoper Berlin

The Pearl Fishers by Bizet, Thu 23 Jun 2022, From (2022/2022), Directed by Wim Wenders,, Conductor Victorien Vanoosten

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Programme, About & Synopsis

Videos

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Further reading

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