Georges Bizet introduced himself in the operatic world with Les Pécheurs de Perles, aged 24. This work had a success among the audience but not the same critical response. To be honest, this is a very beautiful opera, a descriptive, exotical-style music, written by a talented hand: the baritone and tenor duet Au fond du temple saint, as well as the tenor aria Je crois entendre encore are in the operatic aria repertoire. On the other hand, the libretto is very simple, as a romantic Tv movie or soap opera.
Until the 1920s, this was a repertoire opera. Considered a "tenor opera", due to the change in standards and tastes, it is rarely performed nowadays. However, it has seen an increasing number of stagings in recent years. One of them is the Lotte de Beer's staging premiered in Theater an der Wien, Vienna, in 2014, in which the action is set in a survival reality show. It has been seen in cities like Barcelona (2019) or Tel Aviv (2016), of which there is a complete video on Youtube. This review will talk about the Israeli performance.
De Beer, as mentioned before, sets the action in survival reality show named "The Pearl Fishers: the challenge", taking place in an idyllic island. The three protagonists are turned from a priestess and two fishermen into the contestants, and the high priest Nourabad into the presenter. The chorus are now the spectators which follow the show and will decide the love triangle's final destiny. The intention is to represent modern society, their enthusiasm for sensationalism and fascination for new and more and more surrealistic situations, much to their morbid fun, all of these available in this kind of shows. In De Beer's opinion, we are for that reason too close to reach the day in which we will decide on life and death in a live TV show.
The set is a beach in which there is a shack which is demolished when the overture starts, to build the reality set. At the bottom there is a big ovalated structure which represents a building divided in many flats with different families. In the different cities it has been performed the intention was to show their society. In this case, since we are in Israel, we can see a Jewish orthodox family, a muslim numerous family, a group of hooligans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv football team, a single woman, an intellectual family with a collection of books, a middle aged couple protesting of the noise the hooligans make, and a group of students or inmigrants in a tiny room with a bunk bed, among others.
Zurga, which seems to be disliked by the presenter, is chosen as leader by televoting among three candidates. He meets Nadir, the winner of the past season. Leïla appears dressed in an exotic sari and carried by the indigenous people of the island, dressed in a sort of traditional clothes. The characters sing their arias in front to the camera, which are shown in the big screen (the same building structure, now hidden) behind, like an interview. In the second act the Brahma Temple appears with the moonlight behind. The duet between Nadir and Durga seems to appear behind the cameras, but they are discovered by Nourabad. Audience vote mostly for punishment.
In the intermission, a video shows the "reality" asking some (false) spectators in the square of the opera house. The Israeli society is represented again: an old woman speaking in Russian, a man speaking in Yiddish, a blond man speaking in English and the rest speaking in Hebrew. They are asked firstly about their opinion on the course of the program and then the question: "For the lovers, Pardon or Death?", and most of them saying "Mavett!", which means "death" in Hebrew.
In the final act, the execution of Nadir and Leïla is prepared: an inmense stake. Nourabad and the crew celebrates cheerfully the massive vote for the "death" option. But Zurga enters to save the lovers: he fights with the program staff and destroys the cameras, letting the couple to scape. No TV signal, the spectators themselves execute Zurga: the contestants he defeated for the leadership throw kerosene to the stake where he is put now, while the rest of the people film the moment with their own mobile phones.
Unlike the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, a world class one, the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv may not be in the same league as an opera house, but by far is the best in Middle East, with high-level productions andmany of them seen in the most important opera venues, like this one. The opera orchestra is the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion, here conducted by Ethan Schmeisser, also the chorus master. The level of this orchestra is in general very good, and Schmeisser does a nice conducting, maybe more focused to accompaign, but never boring. The strings in the overture sound warm, evocating, like the piece they are performing, but in the tutti they sound a bit strident, specially in Act 3 prelude. The wind section on the other hand is excellent. In the beginning of Act 2, two magnificent flautists are among the football hooligans. The chorus is accomplished, but their sound seems sometimes to be lost due to their position in this staging.
Nadir is the protagonist of this opera by having the most important pieces for him, one sharing with the baritone but clearly he owns the show. The role requires a tenor able to cope with the lyrical tessitura. In this occasion, Russian tenor Alexey Dolgov sings the part. Dolgov has sung in most important opera houses, and his voice has a lyric sound, but sometimes not that much. Despite this, and his strong russian accent, he sings exquisitely, reserving his efforts for the famous aria, singing the high notes in piano.
Leïla is sung by Cristina Pasaroiu, a soprano with a nice voice and beautiful high notes and register, with a dramatic touch. Her volume and projection seem to the the best of the whole cast.
Nikola Mijailovic sings a correct Zurga, and Insung Sim is a good Nourabad, sometimes lacking volume but with an impressive low register and notes.
Lotte de Beer is known by her productions fot young audiences. Most of young people follow TV series and films in Netflix or HBO, but it is undeniable that a long segment also watches reality shows. Her version of this Bizet's opera has succeeded in showing an updated version which fits with an audience exposed to the public eye via social networks, 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.
My reviews are not professional and express only my opinions. As a non English native speaker I apologise for any mistake.
Most of the photographs are from the internet and belong to its authors. My use of them is only cultural. If someone is uncomfortable with their use, just notify it to me.
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