A thrilling tale of friendship tested by love, set on an exotic isle in an eastern sea, Bizet’s early masterpiece The Pearl Fishers is a gem of 19th-century French opera, full of fabulous tunes, colourful orchestration and evocative choruses.

The Pearl Fishers tells the story of friends Zurga and Nadir, who both swear to leave far behind them all thoughts of the beautiful young woman they once met, for the good of their friendship. It is a task more easily sworn to than upheld, and her reappearance ignites jealousy and vengeance.

With Tony Award-winning tenor Alfie Boe as Nadir, English National Opera’s new production is directed by outstanding film-maker Penny Woolcock, following her explosive debut with John Adams’s Doctor Atomic at ENO and the Metropolitan Opera, New York in 2009.

Conducted by rising Scottish podium star Rory Macdonald, who made his own impressive ENO debut last season with Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, The Pearl Fishers offers UK audiences a rare chance to discover what a pearl of a piece Bizet’s opera can be.

Learn more about London operas within the West End.