From February 20 to 22, 2026, Palm Beach Opera brought Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers to the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, offering South Florida audiences the sweeping tale of friendship and forbidden love, directed by Kathleen Smith Belcher. Set on the shores of ancient Ceylon, the opera centers on Zurga (Joo Won Kang), leader of a community of pearl divers, and Nadir (Long Long), his long-estranged friend. Years earlier, the two men pledged to renounce their shared love for a mysterious woman in order to preserve their bond, a promise enshrined in the famed duet “Au fond du temple saint.” When Nadir returns and a veiled priestess named Leïla (Francesca Pia Vitale) arrives to pray for the divers’ safety, the past resurfaces with fury. Leïla is the very woman who once came between them. As Nadir and Leïla rekindle their love, they violate sacred vows to Zurga and this community, placing themselves at the mercy of the same rigid society with a leader torn between jealousy and loyalty.
Palm Beach Opera’s success with this work rested squarely on its trio of principals, and the cast delivered performances of impressive chemistry and depth. As Zurga, Kang commanded the stage with a dignified authority that edged the line of the character’s vulnerability. His voice possessed a dark, resonant core, expanding thrillingly in moments of anger yet softening into introspection during Zurga’s moral reckoning in the final act. Long’s singing of Nadir offered exquisite control and luminous lyricism in “Je crois entendre encore”. His portrayal balanced youthful ardor with sincerity, making Nadir’s defiance feel rooted in love rather than mere impulse. As Leïla, Vitale combined brilliance with emotional poise. In ensemble passages, the three voices intertwined with clarity and warmth, their blend in the great duet and subsequent trio revealing both their characters’ shared history and the fissures between them.
The production’s visual architecture provided a compelling frame for these performances. The set design, conceived by Dame Zandra Rhodes for the San Diego Opera, evoked both the vastness of sea and sky and the ceremonial rigidity of the divers’ society, using height and angle and color to create a striking stage. To further praise Rhodes’ ability to balance spectacle with intimacy, the physical space mirrored the opera’s shifting emotional terrain. Director Belcher maintained a thoughtful pacing without allowing the action to stagnate, guiding the chorus into a tableaux that felt composed.
