"The Dybbuk": For its 40th season, the Israeli Opera presents a new, original world premiere

"How white your body is, Leah,

White and soft.

I am wrapped in it

Like in a goose down blanket.

How gray your heart is, Leah,

Gray and bitter.

I rot in it

Like in a locked cellar."

(Hanan, from the libretto)

Great excitement in the Israeli cultural world: "The Dybbuk" – a world premiere of a new, original Israeli opera, the first operatic adaptation in Hebrew of one of the greatest classics of Jewish culture.

The commissioning of this work takes place for the 40th season of the Israeli Opera, and it is part of a consistent effort to build an Israeli operatic repertoire. Alongside the masterpieces of the global tradition, the Israeli Opera views the commissioning of new works in Hebrew, in partnership with local creators and in dialogue with the sources of Jewish and Israeli culture, as a cultural mission. "The Dybbuk," a new Israeli opera written specifically for this season, is another milestone in this process.

The opera was composed by Josef Bardanashvili, based on a libretto by Ido Ricklin, who also directs the production; with musical direction and conducting by Dan Ettinger, the musical director of the Israeli Opera, together with a leading creative team, including: the German set designer Heike Scheele, costume designer Oren Dar, choreographer Hillel Kogan, and lighting designer Adi Shimroni.

From an Immortal Play, Through a Mythological Performance, to an Original Opera:

The play upon which the opera is based, "The Dybbuk: Between Two Worlds," was written in 1913 by playwright S. Ansky, following a journey he undertook in Jewish settlements within the Pale of Settlement to document local Jewish culture and folklore. A meeting with a righteous rabbi, an expert in exorcising demons and dybbuks, served as inspiration for the mystical love story between Leah and Hanan, a girl and boy destined for each other. Since the play first premiered on stage, and especially since its historical production in 1922 at Habima Theater, directed by Yevgeny Vakhtangov and starring Hanna Rovina, which is considered a milestone in the history of Jewish theater, The Dybbuk has become a timeless Jewish classic.

Over more than 100 years, the play has seen countless adaptations for theater, cinema, dance, and television, and even two previous operas, one of which was in Yiddish. The new opera is the first in Hebrew.

In Ido Ricklin's new libretto, the character of Leah is placed at the center—a girl possessed by a dybbuk, whose figure in the original play remained limited and enigmatic. The opera grants her a full and complex inner voice, transforming the story from a mystical drama into a socio-psychological drama. Leah is presented as a stubborn and rebellious child, and later as a quiet and obedient girl under the authority of her wealthy father. The meeting with Hanan, a poor, audacious, and passionate young scholar, shakes her world and ignites a love that cannot be realized.

While in the original play, Leah is torn between the world of the living and the world of the dead, in the opera she is torn between two different worlds: the authoritarian, institutional, and conservative world represented by her father, versus the world of emotion, passion, and freedom embodied by Hanan. Hanan, who is not just a Torah scholar but a young man willing to challenge the social and divine order, meets his death while trying to bend fate. At this moment, the "Dybbuk" is born. Through the voice of the deceased Hanan, Leah can, for the first time, express her rage, passion, and rebellion against her father, the rabbinic establishment, and the world that restricted and silenced her.

From the Creators:

Ido Ricklin, librettist and director of the production: "The story of The Dybbuk deals with the soul of a dead man who has taken over a woman's body. But I don't think the Dybbuk comes from the world of the dead. It comes from the depth of Leah's tormented and silenced soul. It is not the voice of the deceased Hanan heard from Leah’s mouth. It is Leah's own voice."

The music by award-winning composer Josef Bardanashvili echoes more than five decades of musical creation, of studying and researching Jewish sound traditions, and of writing music for the stage. This journey began in the late 1960s in Soviet Georgia and continues to this day. Bardanashvili interprets An-Sky's play through the countless musical worlds in which he has operated, blending Georgian and Ashkenazi synagogue prayers, Yiddish Purimshpiel, forgotten Soviet avant-garde, influences of Mahler and Messiaen, alongside infinite reflections of his personal voice and previous works, including stage music he composed for "The Dybbuk" in a 1998 Habima Theater production.

Josef Bardanashvili, composer of the opera: "The Dybbuk is an exceptional play that speaks of the absurdity of life, of phenomena we are unable to understand. Village life becomes a world unto itself. The Israeli Opera has created a production of amazing beauty. The finest artists worked on this production: playwright, director, designers. An impressive team of soloists participates. And of course, an excellent orchestra and one of the best conductors in the world. I invite the audience to experience the world premiere of a new opera."

Dan Ettinger, conductor and musical director: "In the new opera 'The Dybbuk,' the composer Josef Bardanashvili has created a fascinating and mesmerizing blend of musical worlds: the realistic musical world of the Eastern European town and the multitude of characters and their musical motifs, which lead the plot with the poetic libretto written by Ido Ricklin and based on Ansky’s famous play. Simultaneously, there is a second musical world, a cosmos in itself, describing and representing the universe as well as the emotional, cosmic, and even mystical world that envelops the entire plot.

“Josef Bardanashvili’s highly unique musical language is rich, captivating, and diverse in a variety of orchestral colors. It challenges the singers with vocal and musical demands and builds breathtaking dramatic tension alongside Ido Ricklin’s libretto, from the very first notes of the opera until its conclusion, through a sequence of focused scenes that are very different from one another."

Leading Performers:

The world premiere production of "The Dybbuk" will feature a roster of leading soloists from the Israeli Opera:

Soprano Ella Vasilevitsky as Leah, Baritone Oded Reich as Hanan, Soprano Yael Levita as the Beggar Woman, Baritone Ionut Pascu as Sender, Contra-Alt Rona Shyrira as Frida, Mezzo-Soprano Tamara Navot as Batya, Soprano Efrat Baram Cohen as Gitel, Baritone Yair Polishook as the Tzaddik (Righteous Man), Tenor Eitan Drori as Asher, Baritone Kirill Odintsov as Henech, Soprano Inbal Brill as First Purifying Woman, Mezzo-Soprano Gal Kochav as Second Purifying Woman, Soprano Yarden Kiferman as the Bath Attendant and Third Purifying Woman.

Featuring the Israeli Opera Chorus conducted by Itai Berkovitch, the Opera Orchestra - The Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion, and featuring 12 dancers.

Performance duration: Approximately two and a half hours.

Performance Dates:

Wednesday | 18.2.26 at 19:30 *Premiere

Friday | 20.2.26 at 13:00

Saturday | 21.2.26 at 20:00

Monday | 23.2.26 at 20:00

Wednesday | 25.2.26 at 18:00

Ticket Prices: 210-490 ILS

For more details and ticket purchases:
https://www.israel-opera.co.il/show/%d7%94%d7%93%d7%99%d7%91%d7%95%d7%a7/

Or at the Israeli Opera box office by phone: 03-6927777

The Shlomo Lahat (Chich) Opera House
Address: 19 Shaul Hamelech St., Tel Aviv
Phone: 03-6927700
Instagram Tag: @israeliopera

(Photo: Yossi Zvicker)