Michael Steen OBE was born in Dublin. He studied at the Royal College of Music, and was the organ scholar at Oriel College, Oxford. Opera has been one of his great pleasures. During a successful thirty year career in the City of London, and afterwards, he has met many who go to it, thus gaining considerable insight into the information which it helps to know in order to enhance one's appreciation and enjoyment of the opera experience. He has been the chairman of the RCM Society and of the Friends of the V&A Museum, the Treasurer of The Open University, and a trustee of Anvil Arts and of The Gerald Coke Handel Foundation.

Bizet had completed his studies. Prodigiously talented, young, wild, opinionated, he was considered 'too big for his boots'.

Les Pêcheurs de Perles, premièred in September, 1863 (twelve years before Carmen), was his first opera commission and is particularly remembered for the duet Au fond du temple saint. Set in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), it is full of romantic and oriental exoticism

But the libretto is banal, although written by two experienced librettists, Carré and Cormon. The opera was attacked by the critics.

A virgin is customarily recruited to sit in isolation and pray while pearl fishing takes place. Sometime earlier, the fishermen's leader, Zurga and his companion Nadir, had both fallen in love with a beautiful priestess, who they saw emerging from a temple. Their solution was for them to swear that they would both give her up for ever.

The virgin turns out to be the priestess. Nadir, who had already secretly broken his vow, is discovered with her. Zurga is furious and calls for their sacrifice. But he relents. To divert the others, and give the couple the chance to flee, he burns the village. He is sacrificed in their stead.

Short Guides to Great Operas written by Michael Steen, author of the acclaimed The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, are concise, entertaining, and easy-to-read books about opera. They are packed with useful information and informed opinion, helping to make you a truly knowledgeable opera-goer, and so maximising your enjoyment of a great musical experience.

Each at around the price you pay for a standard opera-house programme, and available from all popular ebook retailers and ereaders, they are the perfect accompaniment to a night at an opera - whether that's at home, or at the opera house, or in the cinema for opera on screen, such as ROH Live, Met Opera HD Live, or Glyndebourne Festival in cinemas.