INVITATION: Backstage @ Israeli Opera, 10am Mon June 22

Speakeasy Tel Aviv, presents: VIP Field Trip Day

Backstage at The Israeli Opera

Insiders Tour & Talk + Immersive Workshop Experience

What: Come join us for an engaging day trip as we are hosted at the Israeli Opera. We will get backstage, into the orchestra pit, hear the history, feel the vibe, visit the costumes, and learn how it all comes together. We will also get our hands dirty, with an operatic character workshop, understanding the transformations with hair, makeup, wigs & meeting key figures from design to the Opera's singing talent.

When: Monday June 22nd, 10am

Who: Ages 50+ Olim & Sabras from all over Israel & the Globe

Where: Israeli Opera House, 19 Shaul HaMelech Street, TLV (enter@ 28 Leonardo St.)

How: Please register here on Eventbrite

Cost: 70NIS online in advance (tickets are limited, so register today)

Got problems paying on Eventbrite, Whatsapp or BIT: +972.55.246.7727

About Our Tour: Israeli Opera

The story and history of opera in Israel could have become the plot of one of the most exciting operas ever written. It is a story about Zionist pioneers who relentlessly fought to maintain their artistic dreams in a nation yet to be born. It is a story of struggle and love, of faith and despair, a story that eventually, 93 years later, puts Israel very proudly on the international opera map.

It is a story that began in 1917 in Moscow, where Mordechai Golinkin wrote his thesis The Vision of the Hebrew Art Temple of Opera Work in Palestine. Six years later Golinkin arrived in Palestine to make his dream come true. Opera life in the pre-statehood Israel began in Tel Aviv on July 28, 1923 with Verdi's La Traviata. As no opera house was in existence in the city, which was all desert, Golinkin's Palestine Opera had to perform in movie theaters.

The Israeli Opera today currently enjoys the support of over 18,000 subscribers and mounts an average of eight productions each season. Israeli Opera productions feature leading opera artists from all over the world side by side with Israeli opera artists. All Israeli Opera productions are sung in the original language with Hebrew and English surtitles and presented at the state-of-the-art Opera House at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center, opened in 1994.

About Our Event:

The tour will include visits to the auditorium and main stage, the orchestra pit, the costume storage areas, props rooms, makeup and wig departments, and selected backstage spaces where the visual and theatrical language of opera is created.

Participants will gain insight into how a major opera production comes together — from the first design decisions to the moment the curtain rises.

Creating an Operatic Character – Makeup and Stage Effects Workshop opera, led by Anat Yaron, Head of Makeup at the Israeli Opera who will share professional insights into the creative process

During the session:

Participants meet an opera singer as they appear in everyday life, and follow the transformation process step by step into a fully realized operatic character, who will then perform.

This is a workshop about transformation, identity, visual storytelling, and artistic expression — offering a rare glimpse into the creative process behind the operatic stage.

About Our Organization: Speakeasy Tel Aviv

Speakeasy Tel Aviv is a nonprofit initiative led by a dedicated group of English speaking volunteers with a mission to build a community of like-minded peers, interested in diverse speaker forum events of intellectual and cultural substance. We host monthly events, engaging with some of the most prominent voices in Israel, and from around the globe. Our community is focused on ages 50+ Olim and English-speaking Sabras from all over Israel. We maintain a non-partisan attitude towards the issues of the day, and look forward to welcoming you to our warm, wine-filled events.

According to some accounts, the word ‘speakeasy’ is originally derived from ‘speak-softly shops’ which were illegal clandestine drinking establishments in England during the 19th century. The name referenced the need for secrecy, with customers being asked to speak quietly while inside to avoid detection. Our Speakeasy Tel Aviv events strive to embrace this honorable culture of carefully curated speakers worth imbibing with intellectual curiosity, maintaining off-the-record confidential 'Chatham House Rules', while also partaking in our wine socializing mingling time, meeting friends, old and new alike.

Interested in joining our community, volunteering, speaking, or just knowing more?

Email: [email protected]

Speakeasy is generously supported by Am Yisrael Foundation // www.AmYisrael.com