The premiere of the opera Pearl Seekers by Georges Bizet, written to a libretto by Eugene Cormon and Michel Carré, took place on the stage of the Lyric Opera in Paris on September 30, 1863. It was the first opera performed on stage by the 24-year-old composer.
The plot is the story of the rivalry between two friends, the pearl divers Zurga and Nadir, who are both in love with the beautiful Leila. It unfolds against the backdrop of the exotic landscapes of the island of Ceylon (the unusual entourage of exotic countries was used as an additional decoy for the audience in many French operas). And Leila will have to make a much more difficult choice: between duty and feeling. As in most romantic stories, feeling wins: the priestess of Brahma Leila does not remain indifferent to Nadir's passionate confessions and breaks her vow of purity and celibacy. The lovers are expected to be executed, but they unexpectedly manage to escape: they flee from custody during a fire set up by Zurga. In the key theme of the plot - the perjury of the priestess - echoes of two famous predecessors of Bizet's opera are clearly "audible": "Vestals" by Gaspare Spontini and "Norma" by Vincenzo Bellini. The obsession with feelings has determined the lyrical tone prevailing in the music. It is no coincidence that the most recognizable pages of The Pearl Seekers are the melancholy beautiful Romance of Nadir and the duet of Nadir and Zurga from the first act, filled with memories and vows in eternal friendship.
The Pearl Seekers withstood eighteen performances and after that did not return to the stage during the composer's life. After his death, in 1886, the opera was staged at the Teatro alla Scala - in Italian and in a highly modified, "dramatized" finale. The following year, The Seekers appeared at London's Covent Garden Theater, and in 1889 finally returned to the French stage. At the same time, the opera was first heard in St. Petersburg: it was performed by the artists of Alexei Kartavov's private enterprise. Various score versions (including a final trio specially composed by violinist and composer Benjamin Godard) have been published and used for future productions in Europe and North America.
The interest in the Pearl Seekers was primarily caused by the unfading fame of Carmen. This also happened at the Bolshoi Theater. On December 3, 1903, the premiere took place in the building of the New Theater, and in 1906 the performance was moved to the main stage. The main parts were performed by Antonina Nezhdanova (Leila), Leonid Sobinov (Nadir), Alexander Gerasimenko (Zurga), Matvey Goryainov (Nurabad), the conductor was maestro Ulrich Avranek. After a short resumption of the production in the mid-1920s - conducted by Vasily Nebolsin - the opera did not return to the Bolshoi Theater for almost a century.
On December 10, 2020, the premiere took place on the Chamber Stage. A new version of the opera was chosen, made by conductor Brad Cohen based on the author's conductor's score and manuscripts discovered in the 1990s and kept in the National Library of France (conducted by Alexei Vereshchagin). The production team, led by the director and set designer Vladislavs Nastavshevs, has created an ascetic, minimalist performance in which every mise-en-scene and gesture are significant. According to the director, he set the goal "not to illustrate events, but to enable the viewer to present this story, making a dive into himself."
