The Pearl Fishers by Bizet, Fri 31 May 2024, From (2024/2024), Conductor Ettore Prandi, Allee Theater, Hamburg, Germany

Against the backdrop of a distant island paradise, Georges Bizet describes a love triangle complicated by true friendship: love for the Brahmin Leila once threatened to divide the long-time friends Zurga and Nadir. Both men have sworn to each other that they will renounce the beautiful young woman, but neither this promise nor Leila's vow of chastity can prevent her and Nadir from being overwhelmed by desire for each other when they meet again. When the couple is caught by the head priest, Zurga, as the leader of the pearl fishing village, is supposed to impose the death sentence on the two perjurers. Torn between friendship and jealousy, a desire for revenge and a sense of duty, Zurga begins to falter... Twelve years before the global success of his "Carmen", the 25-year-old Bizet achieved his breakthrough as an opera composer with his "Pearl Fishers". The material, permeated by the exoticism that was so popular at the time, inspired him to create a score with colorful instrumentation, captivating melodies and effective theater music, which unfolds in chamber play-like scenes between the protagonists. The dramatic and musical pivotal point here is the famous duet “Au fond du temple saint” (At the bottom of the Holy Temple) by Zurga and Nadir - a pearl of opera literature, which ultimately even led to the rediscovery of the opera, which is still rarely performed today is to be thanked.