Meitar Opera Studio

Meitar Opera Studio
The Young Artists Program of the Israeli Opera

The Meitar Opera Studio is a practical study and performance program for young Israeli opera singers who graduated from any given music academy and who are on the verge of embarking on an operatic career. The major goal of the Meitar Opera Studio is to nurture operatic talent in Israel and to help young opera singers to work in their profession. The Meitar Opera Studio program is aimed at young Israeli opera singers who are willing to hone their craft, further their studies on an ongoing basis and gain stage experience, thus getting ready for a full-fledged operatic career. The actual curriculum of the Meitar Opera Studio is aimed at enlarging the experience of the participating singers and enabling them to gain musical and dramatic knowledge on a personal level and even more so as part of ensemble work.

At the end of the 23 years of the Meitar Opera Studio program, the 100 singers who were part of the program have between themselves performed around 180 roles in various Israeli Opera productions, side by side with participating in numerous concerts and performances in which they performed a wide repertoire. Singers who have graduated from the Meitar Opera Studio program continue to perform in Israeli Opera productions on a regular basis as well as perform with all leading Israeli orchestras all over the country. In the fall of 2005, all members of the Opera Studio participated in a production of Dido and Aeneas, which was performed in Tel Aviv and in Stuttgart. In the summer of 2010, all Opera Studio singers participated in the world premiere of Alice in Wonderland (David Sebba). In the 2018 - 2021 main stage productions of Dido and Aeneas, The Passenger, Cosi fan tutte, Dead Man Walking, The Medium, Mothers, Die Fledermaus, L’Italiana in Algeri and I Capuleti ed i Montecchi, Meitar Opera Studio alumni were the major featured soloists. The world premiere of Theodor by Yonatan Cnaan and Ido Ricklin (2023) featured most Meitar Opera alumni in the cast. Meitar Opera Studio singers also performed in concerts in Switzerland, Great Britain, Australia and South Korea.

Notable Opera Studio productions include Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, La clemenza di Tito, La finta giardiniera (Mozart), La boheme (Puccini), Werther (Massenet), The Telephone and The Medium (Menotti), La Sonnambula and I Capuleti ed i Montecchi (Bellini), Mothers (Sebba), Don Pasquale (Donizetti) and others as well as the Israeli premieres of The Pirates (Storace) with the Phoenix Ensemble and of La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina (Caccini), La Calisto (Cavalli) and Il primo omicidio (Alessandro Scarlatti) with the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra.

Meitar Opera Studio singers have worked through the years with numerous artists including Rainer Armbrust, Giuliano Carella, Anne Champert, Daniel Cohen, Dan Ettinger, Ashe Fisch, Marco Gandini, Gwyneth Jones, Patricia McCaffrey, John Norris, Mozart de Oliviera, Ido Ricklin, Gadi Roll, Mark Schnaible, David Stern,  Alessandro Talevi, Giulio Zappa and many others.   

Meitar Opera Studio alumni including Hila Baggio, Galina Benevic, Ira Bertman, David Bizic, Anat Czarny, Noa Danon, Michal Doron, Hila Fahima, Rachel Frenkel, Tal Ganor, Na’ama Goldman, Shiri Hershkovitz, Shahar Lavi, Dana Marbach, Oded Reich, Daniela Skorka, Ana Virovlanski, Nofar Yacobi and others perform regularly leading roles with the Israeli Opera as well as in major opera houses around the world including the Vienna Staatsoper, the Berlin Staatsoper, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the opera houses of Munich, Warsaw, Magdeburg, Dresden, Freiburg, Luzern, Basel, Tokyo, Pesaro and others.

The Israeli Opera thanks the Zvi & Ofra Meitar Family Fund for their ongoing generous support which enables the variegated activities of the Meitar Opera Studio.
The Israeli Opera also thanks the many other individuals and organizations who support the Meitar Opera Studio, first and foremost the Nacht family for giving a special donation for the Leon Nacht scholarships for the 2020/21 season and the Friends of Israeli Opera UK.

The Music Director of the Meitar Opera Studio is David Sebba .
The Artistic Director of the Meitar Opera Studio is Shirit Lee Weiss .

Current members of the Meitar Opera Studio (2023/24) are:

Rania Ateek, Shlomit Leah Kovalski, Audelia Shallev, Romi Zelig – soprano

Adi Ezra – tenor

Kirill Odintsov, Roi Witz – baritone

We invite you to support young artists and develop a new generation of outstanding Israeli opera singers.

For donations and further information please contact Shira Raz.

Telephone: +972-3-6927782
Fax: +972-3-6954886
shira@israelopera.org.il

2022-2023

Rania Ateek, soprano

Yoav Ayalon, bass

Inbal Brill, soprano

Adi Ezra, tenor

Gal Kohav, mezzo soprano

Shahaf Regev, baritone

Anton Trotoush, tenor 

Nika Yankelevich, soprano

2021-2022

Yoav Ayalon, bass

Inbal Brill, soprano

Stas Davidov , tenor

Ksenia Glonty , soprano

Noam Heinz , baritone

Chen Holtzman, mezzo soprano

Yarden Kiperman , mezzo soprano

Gal Kohav, mezzo soprano

Anton Trotoush, tenor 

2020-2021

Tom Cohen , soprano

Stas Davidov , tenor

Ksenia Glonty , soprano

Noam Heinz , baritone

Sivan Keren , soprano

Yarden Kiperman , mezzo soprano

Tamara Navoth , mezzo soprano

Karina Radzion , mezzo soprano

Rona Shrira , mezzo soprano

2019-2020

Tom Ben Ishai , soprano

Shira Cohen , soprano

Tom Cohen , soprano

Sivan Keren, soprano

Tamara Navoth , mezzo soprano

Karina Radzion , mezzo soprano

Rona Shrira , mezzo soprano

2018-2019
Tom Ben Ishai , soprano

Veronika Brook , soprano

Shira Cohen , soprano

Efrat Hacohen Bram , soprano

Pnini Leon Grubner, bass

Liat Lidor , soprano
Yuli Rorman, mezzo soprano
Shaked Strul, soprano

2017-2018 
Maya Bakstansky, mezzo-soprano

Veronika Brook , soprano 

Efrat Hacohen Bram , soprano
Zlata Khershberg , mezzo soprano 

Pnini Leon Grubner, bass

Liat Lidor , soprano
Yuli Rorman, mezzo soprano  

Shaked Strul, soprano

2016-2017
Irene Alhazov, soprano
Maya Bakstansky, mezzo-soprano

Michal Doron , mezzo-soprano

Tal Ganor, soprano
Galina Khlyzova, soprano 
Efrat Vulfsons, soprano
Nofar Yacobi, soprano  

2024

La clemenza di Tito

2023

Don Pascuale

2019

La sonnambula

La finta giardiniera

Mothers

The Pirates

2018
La clemenza di Tito
Mozart’s Surprise Box (Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion)
Rusalka for children (Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion)
Children Opera Hour Productions (in Hebrew)
Hansel and Gretel
The Magic Flute
Cinderella
Rusalka

Let’s Sing Opera
Opera Fairy Tales
Le nozze di Figaro
Don Pasquale
Die Fledermaus
Mozart’s Surprise Box
The Snow Maiden
L’elisir d’amore
The Little Mermaid (Rusalka)

2017
Suor Angelica
The Impresario
Magic Flute for children (Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion)
Magic Flute for children (Israel Sinfonietta Beer Sheva)

2016
The Medium
I Capuleti ed i Montecchi
Cinderella for children (Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion)

2015
Cosi fan tutte (Raanana Symphonette Orchestra)

2014
Die Fledermaus (Israel Sinfonietta Beer Sheva)
Don Giovanni (Raanana Symphonette Orchestra)
Cosi fan tutte
Magic Flute for children (Ramat Gan Symphony Orchestra)
Magic Flute for children (Raanana Symphonette Orchestra)

2013
Don Pasquale (Raanana Symphonette Orchestra)
La traviata (Ashdod Symphony Orchestra)
The Telephone
The Medium
Suor Angelica
Dido and Aeneas
Magic Flute for children (Israel Chamber Orchestra)
Magic Flute for children (Haifa Symphony Orchestra)
Cinderella for children (Israel Chamber Orchestra)

2012
Die Fledermaus
Werther

2011
La boheme
Die Fledermaus (Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra)
Le nozze di Figaro (Israel Sinfonietta Beer Sheva)
Le nozze di Figaro for children (Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra)
Le nozze di Figaro for children (Israel Chamber Orchestra)
Mozart’s Surprise Box (Israel Sinfonietta Beer Sheva)

L’elisir d’amore for children (Israel Chamber Orchestra)

2010
Le nozze di Figaro (Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra)
Mozart’s Women (Haifa Symphony Orchestra)
Mozart’s Surprise Box (Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion)
Cinderella for children (Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra)
Cinderella for children (Israel Chamber Orchestra)
Hansel and Gretel for children (Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra)
Magic Flute for children (Israel Sinfonietta Beer Sheva)

2009
Magic Flute for children (Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra)

2008
Orpheus Passion
School for Lovers

2007
Hansel and Gretel for children (Haifa Symphony Orchestra)
Magic Flute for children (Haifa Symphony Orchestra)
Cinderella for children (Haifa Symphony Orchestra)

2006
Le nozze di Figaro (Haifa Symphony Orchestra)
Il re pastore (Israel Chamber Orchestra)
Magic Flute for children (Israel Chamber Orchestra)

2005
Dido and Aeneas (Tel Aviv and Stuttgart)
Hansel and Gretel for children (Israel Chamber Orchestra)

2004
Fairies and Witches (Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra)

2003
Love Letters

2002
Le nozze di Figaro