Israel’s Grand Overtures

Making an imprint on the world’s stage, Israel’s artists, performers, dancers and musicians have thrust the country into the spotlight.

Classic companies like the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and contemporary groups like modern dance troupe Batsheva make Israel a performing arts mecca and flourishing home to international festivals. Many of these festivals have garnered world-class repute, but few have received as much global acclaim as the Masada International Opera Festival. Be in the front row of the thriving art scene at this sensational open-air celebration of opera, held each year since 2010. Over 60,000 avid arts patrons travel from across the country and abroad to attend Masada’s treasured performances, which harmonize beautifully with visits to Israel’s heralded sites like Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee and hanging gardens of Haifa.

BACKDROP
Held in the middle of the Judean Desert, the Masada Opera Festival centers around a 3,500 square-foot stage set at the foot of Mount Masada. Steep cliffs, rising to 1,300 feet above the Dead Sea, dramatically plateau to a fortified mesa – its perfect natural defenses drawing King Herod to erect a stronghold here in 30 B.C. Between performances, ascend the monolith to stroll the well-preserved remains of the fortress, including the northern palace constructed atop three rock terraces and still-intact mosaic tile floors in the nearby Roman bath. The onsite museum details Masada’s later role as a Jewish bastion during the Great Revolt against the Romans, its historic magnitude leading to inscription in 2001 as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

LIGHTS UP
As the sun disappears into the Southern District’s horizon, the twinkling celestial bodies overhead are a fitting accompaniment to Masada’s son et lumière setting. Watch the panoply of shifting colors dance across the ancient monuments carved into the stonewall surrounds serving as the natural amphitheater. The desert landscape is transformed using modern architectural lighting and 80 tons of equipment, sending props like neon-lit sailboats gliding across the stage and punctuating swelling crescendos with streaks of laser-light beams that illuminate the Mount Masada backdrop.

STAR-STUDDED CAST
Set aside opera-world luminaries, who are central figures at places such as New York’s Metropolitan Opera House and Milan’s La Scala, as you watch the stars on stage shine as brightly as those sparkling overhead. This June, Masada’s curtain call will feature a cast and crew of over 900, uniting to bring life to a fiery new rendition of Puccini’s Tosca. Acclaimed conductor Daniel Oren presides over the epic combination of Israel’s Symphony Orchestra, Opera Chorus and Moran Children’s Choir that add a dramatic score to the story of a chanteuse wooed by a corrupt police chief. Another evening, see the refreshing interpretation of Carmina Burana, Carl Orff’s cantata inspired by a collection of medieval poems, presented with multimedia flair.

CAMEO APPEARANCES
Following the festival, continue to witness Israel’s virtuosic evolution within the world of opera and beyond. The Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center is home to the Israeli Opera, your consummate host at Masada. Muse the art exhibits in the Opera House foyer before seeing the world premiere of Schitz, showing July 3-10, 2015, a new opera based on the play by Israeli literary legend, Hanoch Levin. Attend another unforgettable performance at the groundbreaking Nalaga’at Center, where the deaf and blind Israeli theater company of the same name produces powerful works with international exposure that characterize Israel’s cultural growth. Or, be moved by Vertigo, a contemporary Tel Aviv dance company, lighting up the stage at Suzanne Dallal Center for Dance and Theater.

ENCORE APPEARANCES
With such a flourishing performing arts scene, Israel deserves extended visits. Let us orchestrate all of your arrangements — perhaps continuing on to the Karmiel Dance Festival in July. We’ll arrange everything from your suite at King David Hotel in Jerusalem’s Old City, to a day spent at the Israel Museum, heralded as one of the world’s leading art and archaeology institutions. We’ll make sure your desires always take center stage.

Start planning your escorted Israel tour today.

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