Performer: Penny Woolcock

The second performance of the Met's Pearl Fishers saw one of the leads withdraw mid-performance again. A welcome performance by young baritone Alexander Birch Elliott could not rescue the evening. 

The casting was something special. Each of the principals was fun to watch, magnificent to listen to, believable in every gesture, look and touch. 

Penny Woolcock's shanty town production continues to improve with each outing. This time, ENO has found singers who can negotiate the vocal challenges more naturally. 

Under the baton of Harry Christophers and direction of Penny Woolcock, Streetwise Opera, The Sixteen, Sixteen Orchestra, backed by a number of Manchester-based organisations came together to bring a well-crafted Easter dramatisation of one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s seminal oratorios. 

Les Pêcheurs de Perles is a graceful if senseless piece, composed when Georges Bizet was only 25 years old and miles away from the psycho-musical drama of Carmen.

It is a myth that pearls can be formed from grit and so it proved here, where a vastly underwhelming musical performance sullied a much improved production of Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers.