The Packard Humanities Institute and Opera San José
present the American premiere of the new opera
by the 12-year-old composer Alma Deutscher
at the California Theatre in San Jose
December 16–21, 2017.
Tickets for Cinderella
A few tickets are still available for the added performances on Friday December 22 at 8:00 p.m. and on Saturday December 23 at 2:00 p.m.
Tickets are available from Opera San José.
Telephone (408) 437-4450.
Zubin Mehta on Alma Deutscher
“One of the greatest musical talents today.”
Sir Simon Rattle on Alma Deutscher
“Alma really is a force of nature. I don’t know that I’ve come across anyone of that age with quite such an astonishing range of gifts. It’s natural for her, it’s play, and I think it was play for certain brilliant young composers, like Mozart, like Korngold. These are very unusual people who have this. There is a sense of phrasing which many people two or three or four times her age would be lucky to have. There is a sense of what the harmony does that seems to be completely inborn to her. This is not something you can teach. And I haven’t really seen anything like it.”
Anne-Sophie Mutter on Alma Deutscher
“It is absolutely extraordinary what this young girl has managed to achieve on the violin, the piano, and in her compositions. Her musical sensitivity and her powers of expression already at this age underline her exceptional talent.”
About the opera
Alma Deutscher's opera is based on the fairy tale, but music itself has become the central theme of the story. The setting is an opera company run by the stepmother, who inherited it from Cinderella’s father when he died. Cinderella herself is a composer with beautiful melodies springing into her head, but her new family treats her with contempt, especially the step-sisters, who are vain would-be divas. The prince is a poet, and the story ends with the Prince searching for the lost melody for his poem (rather than a lost slipper).
About Alma:
| · | Alma's website. | ||
| · | Alma's Wikipedia entry. | ||
| · | The full synopsis of Alma's opera Cinderella. | ||
| · | How Alma composed Cinderella (explained by her father). |
About our production:
| · | Our conductor is Jane Glover. | ||
| · | Our stage director is Brad Dalton. | ||
| · | Set designs by Steven Kemp. | ||
| · | Costume drawings by Johann Stegmeir. |
Cast:
| · | Cinderella | Vanessa Becerra | website | ||||
| · | Prince | Jonas Hacker | website | ||||
| · | King | Nathan Stark | website | ||||
| · | Emeline | Claudia Chapa | website | ||||
| · | Stepmother | Mary Dunleavy | website | ||||
| · | Griselda | Stacey Tappan | website | ||||
| · | Zibaldona | Karin Mushegain | website | ||||
| · | Minister | Brian James Myer | website (speaking role) |
About the painting
Our Cinderella image is a painting, probably by Leonardo da Vinci, of a young girl, a little older than Alma. You can imagine it is Cinderella, or you can imagine it is Alma—it has an uncanny resemblance to her profile. We like to pretend that Leonardo divined that Alma would be born 500 years in the future.