Cinderella (in the original French version, Cendrillon) by Jules-Émile Frédéric Massenet is the latest production of The Jerusalem Opera in cooperation with The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. After many months of preparation, it will be shown only once, on June 18, at the Jerusalem Theatre, the Henry Crown Hall, at 7:30 p.m.
French composer Jules-Émile Frédéric Massenet (1842-1912), known for his operas, songs, and oratorios, based his Cinderella on a story written by the French author Charles Perrault (1628-1703).
We all know the fairytale as a children's story, though Massenet composed it for an adult audience as a full-length opera. It had its world premiere at Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1899.
Massenet approached the subject with humor, sensitivity, enchanting arias, and glowing musical nostalgia for the French Baroque. Yet his opera, despite being shown at many significant opera houses – including major European theaters, Opera Australia in Sydney, and the New York Metropolitan Opera – is not commonly known, even among opera lovers.
“This was another reason why to show it in Jerusalem,†affirmed Jerusalem Opera co-founder Omer Arieli, serving as its music director and conductor.
He decided to introduce Massenet's Cinderella this year, as “one of the most magical works in the operatic repertoire, with beautiful musical harmonies.†With much of the audience familiar with the basic storyline, he said, they can focus primarily on the music.
Alternative story of ‘Cinderella’
But do we really know the story of Cinderella? Or is there just one story of this famous fairytale? Talking to the creators of the Jerusalem Opera performance, I had the notion: no. Or rather, each of us who grew up on it has our own favorite version.
Although it is based on the well-known fairytale, Massenet was not content with the children's story; he designed a gentle, dreamy, and sometimes melancholic world, alighting on shifts from external events to the universe of inner emotion, such as loneliness, longing, and love, or at least the possibility of loving.
Massenet, Arieli told In Jerusalem, underlined the role of a father. That, to some opera viewers, could be a surprise, because in many popular versions of Cinderella, the father has already passed on. In Massenet's take, he is still in the picture – as pointed out by the show's stage director, Daniel Lasry, though “not fully present in the life of his daughter.â€Â
Lasry, 32 and a former opera singer, also takes a fresh approach to the story: “It's about dating life, a very relevant story; I based it on my dating experiences, and of people I know,†she shared.
“The center for me is the internal fire,†noted Lasry. “Like the fireplace is also part of their home.â€
Cinderella will be performed by respected soprano Mima Millo, who is based in Berlin and returns to Israel especially for the show; the stepmother by Noa Hope Sion; the stepsisters by Shlomit Kovalsky and Yahav Dagan Gersht; and Prince Charming by Nadezhda Gaidukova.
It is interesting to notice that the prince is written not, as might have been expected, for a tenor, but for a mezzo-soprano, a female voice. “Massenet emphasized the prince's sensitive nature this way,†said Lasry.
Talking about the father's character (the role entrusted to Ivo Yordanov, a Bulgarian baritone, the soloist of Varna Opera House, who flew to Israel to perform at The Jerusalem Opera), Lasry noted: “He is a widower after his first wife [passed away], the mother of Cinderella.
“About the stepmother, we don't know much, but we know it's her second marriage, because she brings her daughters. So, this is a house with a lot of emotional baggage. There's some pain, some memories of the past. The stepmother promotes her daughters, but the father doesn't have enough strength to do the same for his daughter.â€
This comes to a head with Cinderella: “So Cinderella is left alone. She's by herself; she doesn't have anybody to take care of her. She has to take care of herself. But when she goes to the ball…†And there the story continues.
The Fairy Godmother grants Cinderella a new identity for the ball with her magic, but the magic is temporary, and at the decisive moment, Cinderella chooses to obey the fairy's instructions and leave the palace.
Here we arrive at another, non-traditional interpretation of the story. Lasry's view on the character of the Fairy Godmother, sung by award-winning Israeli soprano Nofar Yacobi, is surprising to me.
“I see the Fairy Godmother as a witch, rather than a fairy,†she said. She is not even sure whether the Fairy Godmother existed or was only dreamed by Cinderella. The audience can decide for themselves after seeing the show.
Thus, Massenet's Cinderella, as interpreted by Arieli and Lasry, with choreography by Yasmin Gariv, is not only a story about the princess and the glass slipper but also a work about love and inner exploration, inviting us to return to a familiar fairytale and discover that true magic lies in what already exists within us.Â
Beyond the familiar plot, the opera offers a story about identity, boundaries, and choice.
This one-time opera show took a long time to prepare.
While Arieli asserts that “every world's capital deserves an opera house,†The Jerusalem Opera – which he co-founded in 2011, with a gala debut in 2012 – still doesn't have its own stage or permanent building. Working on each opera requires additional efforts, at various locations and stages.
Moreover, unlike other opera houses, The Jerusalem Opera doesn't have, for example, a permanent choir or a dance corps.
Arieli personally cast 12 members of the opera choir especially for this production and rehearsed with them for many months.
“Each of them has a solo part to sing,†he said. What will also be visibly different from other opera performances is that the orchestra – in this case, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra – will be on the stage.
This creates some challenges for the creators, Arieli shared, but can also be a special treat for the viewers to observe the musicians during the opera performance.
As for the Arieli-Lasry duo, Lasry met the maestro (in Italian, a conductor but also a teacher) Arieli when she was a 17-year-old singing student, as her teacher and accompanying pianist. So they have known each other for many years and also hold a long-term professional connection.
In the case of collaborating on Cinderella, Arieli played the entire opera for Lasry on the piano, thereby explaining the role of particular instruments in the opera. Afterward, for months, they worked separately – Lasry on the stage interpretation, Arieli on the musical side. They joined their efforts only recently, a few weeks before the Jerusalem premiere.
Arieli’s own road to Jerusalem began in Florence, Italy, where he was raised and educated. He first came to Israel in the mid-1990s as a young man. “When I served in the IDF, I decided to settle in Jerusalem,†he recounted. “I knew I wanted to start a family, work, and live in Jerusalem.â€
Post-IDF, he spent several years in Europe building his musical career.Â
“But I knew I would eventually come back to Jerusalem†– and some years later, he did. One of his dreams was to give opera lovers in Jerusalem the opportunity to hear the best operas without having to travel to other cities.
The Jerusalem Opera seeks to provide opportunities for performers and artists at the beginning of their careers to collaborate with experienced artists. Arieli wanted “to create a stage for Israeli singers and musicians, including new immigrants, and other artists from Jerusalem and throughout Israel.â€
It manages to do so with support from the Culture and Sport Ministry, the City of Jerusalem, and the Jerusalem Foundation. Donations from other foundations and private donors comprise about 80% of its annual budget. Despite the pandemic and war, The Jerusalem Opera continues to create new performances.
“Since the tragic events of October 7, cultural activity has been a source of compassion, support, and strength,†Arieli noted.Â
Over the last 15 years, The Jerusalem Opera has performed classics from the world's opera repertoire and seeks to expand it with operas based on Jewish themes and to commission new works. Its first major production in 2013 was Mozart's opera Don Giovanni staged in the majestic surroundings of David's Citadel, using the walls of Jerusalem's Old City as a natural backdrop.Â
In the following years, opera productions included The Marriage of Figaro, The Barber of Seville, Hansel and Gretel, and La Canterina. Last year, a Puccini evening offered a double bill of Il tabarro and Act II of Tosca.
The Jerusalem Opera collaborates with leading musical institutions, including, as in this case, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (JSO). In spring 2023, they joined with the JSO to show the opera Thérèse Raquin by Israeli composer Aharon Harlap.
The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, for its part, is in its 88th season.
Legendary musicians have been giving concerts with the JSO for several decades, including Igor Stravinsky, Otto Klemperer, Arthur Rubinstein, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Isaac Stern, Pablo Casals, Igor Markevitch, Henryk Szeryng, Yo Yo Ma, Pierre Boulez, Neville Mariner, Christa Ludwig, Tabei Zimmermann, Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu, José Carreras, Jean Pierre Rampal, Maxim Vengerov, and Yefim Bronfman.
There is no history without culture, art, and music, so we can easily say the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra built Israeli history.
The most outstanding premieres performed by the orchestra include Milhaud's opera David (1954); the cantata Abraham and Isaac by Stravinsky, conducted by Robert Craft (1964); and Krzysztof Penderecki's Seven Gates of Jerusalem, conducted by Maestro Lorin Maazel, commissioned to conclude the 3000th anniversary celebrations of Jerusalem (1999).Â
Supported by the Culture and Sport Ministry and the City of Jerusalem as well, the orchestra regularly performs at the Israel Festival, and also frequently tours Europe and the US – performing in famed concert halls such as Vienna's Musikverein, the Cologne Philharmonic, and New York City's Carnegie Hall.
This one-off performance of Cinderella is generating great anticipation among music lovers, especially opera enthusiasts. This take on the famous story is not just for children, and it is ripe for all of us to explore.Â
When longing for love, warmth, and understanding has no age limit, a fairytale can happen to anyone.ï®
The opera will be performed in traditional costumes, in French with Hebrew and English subtitles. jerusalemopera.com/cinderella-
cendrillon/?lang=en
