or Les pêcheurs de perles is the origional title.
it's an opera by Georges Bizet (who also wrote Carmen)
Folkoperan in Stockholm is running it right now and WOW it is wonderful! It might also be because I haven't seen opera in such a long time that any opera at all is wonderful for me, but it really touched me. I cried once over the breaking of the friendship between Nadir and Zurga and I had tears in my eyes the remainder of the time. High D was hit I think and it didn't even sound high. The soprano, Elin Rombo, was great. Not one of the greates singers of all time, but she had amazing feeling. She knew how to manipulate the audience. So did the other main characters, played by Carl Unander-Scharin and Jeremy Carpenter. The tenor Carl was a little weak, but had a great voice. They all had great voices. AND were good actors.
speaking of actors, they had 3 young actors who acted out Zurga, Nadir and Leila when they were young. they were given such small tools, only looks and small small body movements, but they used it well. Names to remember: Sandra Bergman, Viktor Bodelius, and Max Kvissberg. (I could swear I've heard the Kvissberg name before... just don't know from where...)
and the music, the music!!
wow, that I've never heard anything from this opera before. It has it all: climaxes, terror, love, tantalizing melodies, agitating drums, you name it. High C, relatively interesting recitatives, great broad choir sound... wow.
my only problem was the storyline. As in it's a great storyline, but if you read the description that Folkoperan has written I don't really feel that they managed to convey what they wrote that they were going to convey... but they did manage to convey the friendship and the love. Especially the friendship really got to me, and it will stay with me for quite some time.
it's an opera by Georges Bizet (who also wrote Carmen)
Folkoperan in Stockholm is running it right now and WOW it is wonderful! It might also be because I haven't seen opera in such a long time that any opera at all is wonderful for me, but it really touched me. I cried once over the breaking of the friendship between Nadir and Zurga and I had tears in my eyes the remainder of the time. High D was hit I think and it didn't even sound high. The soprano, Elin Rombo, was great. Not one of the greates singers of all time, but she had amazing feeling. She knew how to manipulate the audience. So did the other main characters, played by Carl Unander-Scharin and Jeremy Carpenter. The tenor Carl was a little weak, but had a great voice. They all had great voices. AND were good actors.
speaking of actors, they had 3 young actors who acted out Zurga, Nadir and Leila when they were young. they were given such small tools, only looks and small small body movements, but they used it well. Names to remember: Sandra Bergman, Viktor Bodelius, and Max Kvissberg. (I could swear I've heard the Kvissberg name before... just don't know from where...)
and the music, the music!!
wow, that I've never heard anything from this opera before. It has it all: climaxes, terror, love, tantalizing melodies, agitating drums, you name it. High C, relatively interesting recitatives, great broad choir sound... wow.
my only problem was the storyline. As in it's a great storyline, but if you read the description that Folkoperan has written I don't really feel that they managed to convey what they wrote that they were going to convey... but they did manage to convey the friendship and the love. Especially the friendship really got to me, and it will stay with me for quite some time.
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