 During a brilliant student career at the Conservatoire de Paris , Bizet won many prizes , including the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1857 . He was recognised as an outstanding pianist , though he chose not to capitalise on this skill and rarely performed in public . Returning to Paris after almost three years in Italy , he found that the main Parisian opera theatres preferred the established classical repertoire to the works of newcomers . His keyboard and orchestral compositions were likewise largely ignored ; as a result , his career stalled , and he earned his living mainly by arranging and transcribing the music of others . Restless for success , he began many theatrical projects during the 1860s , most of which were abandoned . Neither of his two operas that reached the stage in this time — Les pêcheurs de perles and La jolie fille de Perth — were immediately successful . 
