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 first 15 years of the Opera Studio program, the 60 singers who were part of the program have between themselves performed around 130 roles in various Israeli Opera productions, side by side with participating in numerous concerts and performances in which they performed a very wide repertoire. Singers who have graduated from the Opera Studio program continue to perform in Israeli Opera productions on a regular basis as well as perform with orchestras all over Israel. All Opera Studio members performed most successfully in the Israeli Opera production of La traviata both in Tel Aviv (October 2001) and on a most successful tour to Wiesbaden, Germany (May 2003). In the fall of 2005, all members of the Opera Studio participated in a production of Dido & 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). Opera Studio singers also performed in concerts in Switzerland, Great Britain, Australia and South Korea. Notable Opera Studio productions include Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart) with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, IBA as well as with the Israel Sinfonietta Beersheva and as La boheme (Puccini), Werther (Massenet), Die Fledermaus (J. Strauss), Don Pasquale (Donizetti), Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), Suor angelica (Puccini), The Telephone and The Medium (Menotti), Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte (Mozart) and others.

Opera Studio alumni Hila Baggio, Ira Bertman, Hila Fahima, Noa Danon, Dana Marbach, Ana Virovlanski, Shiri Hershkovitz, Svetlana Sandler, Rachel Frenkel, Ayala Zimbler, Na'ama Goldman, Anat Czarny, David Bizic, Oded Reich and others perform regularly leading roles with the Israeli Opera as well as in major opera houses around the world.

The Opera Studio is supported by the Zvi & Ofra Meitar Family Fund as well as by donations from the Landesberg family in everlasting memory of Eva Landesberg, the  Friends of the Israeli Opera (UK) Scholarship Fund, Alrov Fund, Uri Weltsch, Edna & Arnan Gabrieli, Leora Goldman in memory of her mother Ahuva (Lili) Goldman, Zakai family in memory of Pinchas (Pini) Zakai, Rachel and Beni Birman, Morris Kahn, Helen & Peter Simpson in memory of Teddy & Ernst Simpson/Schweitzer, in memory of Miriam & David Weisz, Caracas, Venezuela, Dame Shirley Porte and the late Sir Leslie, Tsiky Rosenthal (Ganmore) and family in loving memory of her husband, Dr. Jerome Rosenthal, in loving memory of Dr. Eliezer Domke, Ronen Foundation for advancing young artists in classical music and an anonymous donation.

The Music Director of the Opera Studio is David Sebba.

Current members of the Opera Studio (2015/16) are:
Irene Alhazov, Tal Ganor, Galina Khlyzova, Tali Ketzef, Efrat Vulfsons, Nofar Yacobi, soprano
Hanna Bardos, Shahar Lavi, mezzo soprano
Gitai Fisher, Osher Sebbag, tenor

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

For donations and further information please contact Limor Sagi, Adv. Telephone: +972-3-6927782
Fax: +972-3-6954886
development@tapac.org.il

Opera Studio Members since its inception: