Opera

Les Pêcheurs de perles

Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, FC Bergman

In directing Les Pêcheurs de perles, FC Bergman are venturing into opera for the first time. A must-see opera debut!

Les Pêcheurs de perles, Bizet's first great attempt to write a dramatic lyrical drama is a hidden gem, often overshadowed by Carmen. But all that will surely change in the hands of the stand-out theatre collective FC Bergman. They immerse the story about the transience of love and friendship in a fascinating world. A must-see opera debut!

Practically all that has remained of Les Pêcheurs de perles in the collective memory is the beautiful duet Au fond du temple saint, while the view of the libretto as questionable hackwork has kept the opera from the stage. This operatic tale of pearls and fishermen has, in a sense, itself lain hidden within its shell. And wrongly so, because behind the intense, at times sentimental story and superficial exotic flourishes, there is a strikingly modern theme: nostalgia for the purity of youth. 

In directing Les Pêcheurs de perles, FC Bergman are venturing into opera for the first time. They mingle a hard realism with a mysterious, dreamlike atmosphere, a highly suitable combination for an opera that, in both the music and the story, connects a bygone age with the immediacy of the now. With this production, the Belgian conductor David Reiland will also be making his debut at Opera Vlaanderen.

With their first direction of an opera, FC Bergman have (almost) transformed a muddled work into a masterpiece. Hats off! ... Their interventions give a depth to Les pêcheurs de perles that the original score simply doesn’t have.

"FC Bergman’s Les pêcheurs de perles is an opera about memory in the face of death."

Stephan Moens in De Morgen *** , 17 December 2018

"FC Bergman transposes Bizet’s Pecheurs de perles to a rest home in masterly opera debut."

"Internationally renowned Antwerp theatre collective FC Bergman has a bull’s eye with opera-directing debut."

Sylvia Broeckaert in Klara , 15 December 2018

by

  • Georges Bizet

libretto

  • Eugène Cormon
  • Michel Carré

music director

  • David Reiland

concept, direction, scene, costume, light

  • FC Bergman

costumes

  • Judith Van Herck

dramaturgy

  • Luc Joosten

vocals

  • Elena Tsallagova
  • Charles Workman
  • Boris Statsenko
  • e.a.

chorus lead

  • Jan Schweiger

execution

  • Symfonisch Orkest Opera Vlaanderen
  • Koor Opera Vlaanderen

production

  • Opera Ballet Vlaanderen

coproduction

  • Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg
  • L'Opéra de Lille

All data

  1. Thursday 21 December 2023 — 20h00 — Opera Antwerpen, Antwerpen
  2. Wednesday 27 December 2023 — 20h00 — Opera Antwerpen, Antwerpen
  3. Friday 29 December 2023 — 20h00 — Opera Antwerpen, Antwerpen
  1. Friday 14 December 2018 — 20h00 — Opera Antwerpen, Antwerpen
  2. Sunday 16 December 2018 — 15h00 — Opera Antwerpen, Antwerpen
  3. Tuesday 18 December 2018 — 20h00 — Opera Antwerpen, Antwerpen
  4. Friday 21 December 2018 — 20h00 — Opera Antwerpen, Antwerpen
  5. Sunday 23 December 2018 — 20h00 — Opera Antwerpen, Antwerpen
  6. Thursday 27 December 2018 — 20h00 — Opera Antwerpen, Antwerpen
  7. Saturday 29 December 2018 — 20h00 — Opera Antwerpen, Antwerpen
  8. Monday 31 December 2018 — 19h00 — Opera Antwerpen, Antwerpen
  9. Saturday 12 January 2019 — 20h00 — Opera Gent, Gent
  10. Tuesday 15 January 2019 — 20h00 — Opera Gent, Gent
  11. Friday 18 January 2019 — 20h00 — Opera Gent, Gent
  12. Sunday 20 January 2019 — 15h00 — Opera Gent, Gent
  13. Tuesday 22 January 2019 — 20h00 — Opera Gent, Gent
  14. Thursday 24 January 2019 — 20h00 — Opera Gent, Gent
  15. Wednesday 8 May 2019 — 20h00 — Grand Théâtre Luxembourg, Luxembourg
  16. Friday 10 May 2019 — 20h00 — Grand Théâtre Luxembourg, Luxembourg

News about ‘Les Pêcheurs de perles’

FC Bergman receives prestigious Silver Lion from La Biennale di Venezia Read • 17 June 2023

FC Bergman receives prestigious Silver Lion from La Biennale di Venezia

We are very proud to announce that FC Bergman, which authors productions that represent an original blend of cinema, literature and the visual arts, has been awarded the Silver Lion. The Lions were approved by the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia and recommended by the Directors of the Theatre Department Stefano Ricci and Gianni Forte (ricci/forte). The awards ceremony will take place on June 17th during the 51st International Theatre Festival which will be held from June 15h to July 1st 2023 in Venice.

FC Bergman returns to its roots as a location theatre company Read • 24 June 2022

FC Bergman returns to its roots as a location theatre company

They are surprisingly young to be called 'long-serving’. And yet FC Bergman will be celebrating its tenth anniversary as a resident Toneelhuis company in 2023. The four artists (Stef Aerts, Marie Vinck, Joé Agemans, Thomas Verstraeten) were fledglings when they knocked on the doors of the Bourla Theatre in 2011 to come make the show 300 el x 50 el x 30 el. And yes, they invited themselves.

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