Bizet’s Pearl Fishers Begins 2016 Orcas Center Season

Sunday, January 17, 1 p.m., Orcas Center

— from Artha Kass —

Orcas Center’s jam packed and rich January – August 2016 Season kicks off on Sunday, January 17 at 1 p.m. with the Met: Live in HD’s new production of Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles (The Pearl Fishers). It features the lilting duet “Au fond du temple saint,” which opera fans know and adore.

Les Pêcheurs de Perles by the composer of Carmen that has not been seen at the Met in nearly a century, tells the story of a beautiful Hindu priestess pursued by rival pearl divers competing for her hand. Diana Damrau leads the cast as the priestess Leïla, opposite Matthew Polenzani as Nadir, Mariusz Kwiecien as Zurga, and Nicolas Testé as the high priest Nourabad.

The award-winning British TV and film director Penny Woolcock directed the premiere of this staging of Les Pêcheurs de Perles at the English National Opera in 2010. She made her opera-directing debut with the Met premiere of John Adams’ Dr. Atomic during the 2008-09 season. She is known for her breakthrough film Tina Goes Shopping; Macbeth on the Estate, a gritty, present-day setting of Shakespeare’s play; The Margate Exodus, a modern-day telling of the Book of Exodus; and The Death of Klinghoffer.

During the mid-1800s, it was difficult for new composers and new works to be seen at the two major opera houses in Paris, the Paris Opera and the Opéra-Comique. Although Georges Bizet was not well-known at the time, he won the prestigious Prix de Rome at age 25 and was commissioned to write Les Pêcheurs de Perles. The opera was staged at the Théâtre Lyrique, which was eventually known for the premieres of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and Faust, Wagner’s Rienzi, and Berlioz’s Les Troyens à Carthage.

Les Pêcheurs de Perles had its first Met performance in 1896, when only the first two of the opera’s three acts were performed. The opera was performed in its entirety on opening night of the 1916-17 Met season, with Frieda Hempel as Leïla and Enrico Caruso as Nadir.

The January 17 matinee performance of Les Pêcheurs de Perles is hosted by Patricia Racette.

Tickets for The Met: Live in HD’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles are $20, $15 for students, $2 off for Orcas Center members, and may be purchased at www.orcascenter.org or by calling 376-2281 ext. 1 or visiting the Orcas Center Box Office open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from noon – 2 pm. For more information about Orcas Center’s 2016 season visit www.orcascenter.org.