GEORGES BIZET
LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES
CONTENTS
P.
4
SYNOPSIS P.
10
THE DYED TRUTH TILL BRIEGLEB P.
16
“THIS MUSIC ASKS FOR A PARTICULAR KIND OF LISTENING” CONVERSATION WITH DANIELE RUSTIONI
P.
24
CEYLON DOES NOT EXIST JANINE ORTIZ P.
31
“FASHION IS NOT JUST ABOUT AESTHETICS, IT IS ALSO A FORM OF SOCIAL ANALYSIS” CONVERSATION WITH ERSAN MONDTAG P.
36
IMPRINT
GEORGES BIZET
LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES OPERA in Three Acts Libretto MICHEL CARRÉ & EUGÈNE CORMON
ORCHESTRA
STAGE ORCHESTRA
2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo) 2 oboes (2nd doubling cor anglais) 2 clarinets / 2 bassoons 4 horns / 2 trumpets / 3 trombones timpani / percussion harp / strings 2 piccolos / tambourine / harp
AUTOGRAPH
Whereabouts unknown
WORLD PREMIÈRE Théâtre-Lyrique, Paris FIRST PERFORMANCE AT THE HOUSE ON THE RING Vienna State Opera DURATION
2 H 30 M
30 SEP 1863
14 MAY 2026
INCL. 1 INTERMISSION
THE DYED TRUTH
nothing different in their own time. Only his music transformed these infamous fabrications into a universally comprehensible stimulus. It opens, for every interpreter, the possibility of saying something true about the world in which they live.
TILL BRIEGLEB, born in Munich in 1962, is a journalist, critic, author and dramaturg. For many years he has written on art, architecture, theatre and cultural history, including for the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the art magazine art. As a dramaturg, he regularly collaborates with Ersan Mondtag and has accompanied his opera and theatre productions at various European stages.
14
LUDOVIC TÉZIER as ZURGA CHOIR of the VIENNA STATE OPERA
JANINE ORTIZ IN A CONVERSATION WITH ERSAN MONDTAG (DIRECTOR)
“FASHION IS NOT JUST ABOUT AESTHETICS, IT IS ALSO A FORM OF SOCIAL ANALYSIS” For his Vienna staging of Les Pêcheurs de perles, Ersan Mondtag relocates Bizet’s opera to the world of the global luxury industry. The conversation ranges from textile labour and temples of consumerism to fantasy as a political force and a form of beauty on stage that is never innocent. jo
The idea of reading Les Pêcheurs de perles not as an exotic tale, but as a contemporary model of global luxury production, is a striking one. How did it come about? em It actually seemed very obvious to us. At its core, The Pearl Fishers is about the exploitation of nature. Historical pearl fishing was a brutal practice, in which people risked life and limb for the luxury of others. If you want to bring that material into the present, you need to find a field in which that danger and that logic of exploitation are still real. Dyeing is very similar in that respect: toxic processes, precarious labour, dangerous conditions. That is precisely why KS JUAN DIEGO FLÓREZ as NADIR
we decided to replace the pearl with textiles. Textile production is still one of the fields in which exploitation persists on a global scale. jo In this production, you are not only directing, but also designing the set and costumes. What came first: the dye works or the shopping mall as a temple of consumerism? em First came the city with the dye works. Very soon afterwards came the idea of taking the shopping mall as a kind of frozen metaphor for the temple, as if cast in marble. It was never meant to be a naturalistic shopping centre, but an elevated form in which consumerism and sacralisation collapse into
31
IVO STANCHEV as NOURABAD CHOIR and EXTRAS of the VIENNA STATE OPERA
IMPRINT GEORGES BIZET
LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES SEASON 2025/26 PREMIÈRE OF THE PRODUCTION 14 MAY 2026 Publisher WIENER STAATSOPER GMBH, Opernring 2, 1010 Wien Director DR. BOGDAN ROŠČIĆ Administrative Director DR. PETRA BOHUSLAV General Editor DR. JANINE ORTIZ Design & concept EXEX Layout & typesetting MIWA MEUSBURGER Cover image concept MARTIN CONRADS, BERLIN Printed by PRINT ALLIANCE HAV PRODUKTIONS GMBH, BAD VÖSLAU TEXT REFERENCES All articles are taken from the programme of the Vienna State Opera (première on 14 May 2026). IMAGE REFERENCES Cover image: © Sascha Weidner – Drifting II (2012) © The Estate of Artist Sascha Weidner. Performance photos: Michael Pöhn/Wiener Staatsoper (p 7, 8-9, 22-23, 30), Lukas Städler (p 2-3, 15, 37). ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS Janine Ortiz. Reproduction only with approval of Wiener Staatsoper GmbH / Dramaturgy. Holders of rights who were unavailable regarding retrospect compensation are requested to make contact.
produced according to guideline Uz24 Austrian Ecolabel, Print Alliance HAV Produktions GmbH, UW No. 715