MAKING A DIFFERENCE
The funds raised by FIO through events, auctions, and donations go directly toward the many initiatives and programmes of the Israel Opera. Foremost among them is the Meitar Opera Studio, which trains young operatic talents into world-class singers.
Tom Ben-Ishai
“Opera is the queen of arts and requires a diversity of skills. Thanks to Meitar Opera Studio, I know that opera singing is much more than only performance of vocal music. It is a complex mixture of performance arts. I live and breathe stage acting, movement on stage, articulation, right pronunciation in different languages and much more. The studio trains us to become professional opera performers- by practicing, repeatedly, under the guidance of a multi-disciplinary team of the best conductors, directors, trainers and teachers in the field. They force us to polish and refine our skills and to jump into the deep water repeatedly, to let us find that we are capable of swimming. I am very lucky to be a part of this amazing project and I keep learning more and more every day.”
Veronika Brook
Nour Darwish
Nour Darwish, soprano, was born in Israel. She graduated from the Buchman-Mehta School of Music at the Tel Aviv University and from the Brooklyn College of Music. Her operatic repertoire includes Gretel in Hansel und Gretel (Humperdinck), Euridice in Orpheus (Telemann), Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni (Mozart), Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi (Puccini), Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) and others. She received the AICF, AVAI and Ronen Foundation scholarships. She performed as a soloist with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra and Zubin Mehta as well as with the Orpheus Foundation in Nazareth and performs Arabic music with several orchestras in Israel.
Nour Darwish is a member of the Israeli Opera’s Meitar Opera Studio where her repertoire includes Adina in L’elisir d’amore (Donizetti), Papagena in Die Zauberflote (Mozart) and more.
Her roles at the Israeli Opera:
Werther: Sophie (2018)
Giulio Cesare in Egitto in Akko: Cleopatra (2017)
Oded Reich
Oded Reich was born in Israel. He graduated from the Jerusalem Music Academy. He performed the role of the Officer in Il barbiere di Siviglia with The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He appeared as a soloist with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Raanana Symphonette Orchestra, Barocada and the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra. His concert repertoire includes And it Shall Come to Pass (Yehezkel Braun), Jesus in Mattheus Passion (Bach), the Requiem by Marcello and Faure, Pettite messe solennelle (Rossini), Sacred Service (Bloch), Nelson Mass (Haydn), Haman in Esther (Handel) and many other works. In 2002 he established The Prophet of the Perfect Fifth, an ensemble of men voices performing Renaissance and early baroque music. He received the Eli Leon and Bercovici scholarships. He performed Papageno in Die Zauberflöte (Mozart) with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra. Oded Reich was a member of the Israeli Opera’s Meitar Opera Studio where his repertoire included Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart), the Father in Hansel und Gretel (Humperdinck), Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore (Donizetti), Ben in The Telephone (Menotti), Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas (Purcell) and other roles.
His recent roles at the Israeli Opera:
The Passenger: Tadeusz (2019)
Tosca: Sciaronne (2019)
Un Ballo In Maschera: Silvano (2019)
