The Pearl Fishers at ENO

Yesterday we went to see The Pearl Fishers by Bizet at ENO. I saw some pictures of the production and it looked quite interesting, very movie-like, which is not surprising since the director is actually a film maker. And it looked indeed very beautiful but that’s pretty much all I liked.
I did not like the main singers at all. The music is so sweet and beautiful and I found their voices quite strident. The soprano’s voice seemed more suitable for operetta and the tenor had no feeling and sweetness in his voice to match the French opera music. The fact that they were singing in English was also not a plus but I could have been ok with that given better singers. On top of this, it was quite warm in the hall and there was a guy in front of us smelling of some weird shampoo or after shave so at intermission we decided to go out and enjoy the beautiful day on Southbank. Not sure if I will be back soon for an opera there 🙁