While audience members thought the explosive 16/17 season was unbeatable – with huge international names like Stefano Poda and classic operas like Rossini's La Gazzetta – the impressive Israeli talents booked for this year have taken the Israeli music and theater world by storm. Expect Shakespeare, Puccini, Verdi and more greats. Here's a glance into what to expect. Plan ahead, because these events will blow even the most cultured of minds.
A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare (Jan 2018)
© Yoram Asheim
A New Year brings new love, and there's no better way to celebrate romance than with a tangled love quadrangle, a man making an ass of himself (literally), and an enchanted forest. Conducted by Daniel Cohen, and directed by Ido Ricklin, the production brings together some wonderful Israeli talents – choreographer Yoram Karmi and lighting designer Avi Yona Bueno, with Hila Baggio as Titania and Alon Harari and Yaniv D’Or in the role of Oberon.
Don Giovanni - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Feb 2018)
© Israeli Opera
Mozart is more than just a music man, his opera based on the legendary Don Juan, a fictional libertine and seducer, is arguably one of his greater lifeworks. It has been interpreted and reinvented hundreds of times, yet director Kasper Holten promises a unique staging, which implements advanced video mapping techniques.
Don Carlo - Guiseppe Verdi (Mar 2018)
© Israeli Opera
Don Carlo takes a classic character – in this case, Carlos, Prince of Asturias – and follows the historical events of his life which seem to be steeped in simplicity, yet become more and more complicated with time. Carlos was to marry Elizabeth of Valois, yet she was wed to his father instead, offering a wealth of dramatic tension between father and son for this opera.
The Tale of Tsar Saltan - Rimsky Korsakov (May 2018)
© Israeli Opera
This exciting production will be presented for the first time in Israel. The opera is based on a fairy tale by Pushkin. Conducted by Evgeny Brazhnik, and directed by Alexander Titel, this visiting opera holds true to its Russian nature: it will be performed by the soloists, orchestra, and chorus of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Opera House, Moscow.
Dido and Aeneas -Henry Purcell (Jun 2018)
© Israeli Opera
This production goes way back to the epic. Based on Book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid, Dido and Aeneas will be conducted by Ethan Schmeisser, with the design, choreography, and direction by the impressively ambitious Cécile Roussat and Julien Loubek.
Carmen - Georges Bizet
© Israeli Opera
What better way to close the opera season than with the loud, proud, intense Carmen. Whether you claim to be a music buff or not, you'd recognize the music from this incredible 'opera comique' in a heart beat. Conducted by Karen Kamensek, with Gadi Schechter as revival director, Bizet's incredible masterpiece is the perfect way to end a season and make way for a new one.
In addition, the Israeli Opera is introducing a new feature: Six at six – a program that will include six of the season’s operas beginning at the significantly earlier hour of 18:00, thus enabling viewers to enjoy the opera and also get a good night's sleep.
Get out those theater binoculars, dry clean that jacket, and suit up. The Israeli Opera is waiting for you.