Chen Holtzman and Ksenia Glunt, who play Cain and Abel in a special concert by the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra with the Meitar Opera Studio, break every stigma about the opera. Xenia performed with a metal band, Chen was Tom Boy – and they both do not connect to the biblical story from a place of faith. They will soon perform in Ness Ziona
Posted on: 31.5.22 16:18
Leave you with opera clichés about the obesity that heralds the end of the work, and let’s get to know the next generation of opera – vibrant, energetic and connected to surprising styles. Sounds unreliable? Not until you meet Ksenia Glunt, a soprano singer who performed with the metal band Sensorium. “I came to this out of curiosity,” she says in an interview we have with her on the occasion of the Israeli premiere of the work “The First Murder” by Alessandro Scarlatti, which will soon be performed in a special concert by the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra. “Metal audiences are a great audience, which is very uplifting and very welcoming. It does not judge you like in an opera, which is a very selective world.”
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Galunt, a resident of Rishon Lezion, was born in Moscow, where she developed a love for opera, high culture and also for the first profession in her life: a chemist. After a short time living in New York and working at the International Institute of Vocal Arts IVAI, she returned to Israel and today she is marked as a great promise at the Israeli Opera. “I believe that opera should be accessible to everyone, but unfortunately today this field is only open to older and rich people. It is true that there are discounted tickets, but not enough information is published this and it is a pity.”
Although she participates in the work on one of the well-known biblical stories, she is less connected to it from a place of faith. “I am an atheist,” she declares. That is the root of all evil that is happening. “
The piece, originally intended for concert performance, draws on an exciting musical dramaturgy. The oratorio paints the biblical story of Cain and Abel in bright colors and intensifies the intrigue, feelings, difficulties and pain faced by the primordial heroes, who signed the first murder case in human history. The work is directed by the esteemed director Shirit Lee Weiss.
Cain is played by Chen Holtzman (Alt), a resident of Kfar Saba, who began singing music at Manor Kabri High School in the north. She then earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Tel Aviv University and a master’s degree from the University of San Francisco. When asked if the audience in the United States gets the opera better than the Israeli audience, she thinks for a moment and concludes: “In Baroque there is no difference. These are people who come with understanding, and know what they are going for. The difference is more in terms of singers. While in Israel there is only one opera house, so it is more difficult to make a living from an opera. ”
Holtzman testifies that she was a “Tom Boy” as a child. “I always connected more with boys than girls, I rarely wore dresses, and to this day I wear minimalist clothes. When I go on stage, I am a completely different personality and I am very happy to wear glamorous and impressive clothes.”
The first question asked by the concert conductor, David Shemer, is how she connects to the role of a killer. “I am a person who has anger and hatred, and these are known to be the basis that can lead to murder, but I do not think I was capable of murder,” she says.
Like Glunt, Holtzman is not a big believer, and she examines the murder story as a parable. “In the end, it’s not what Cain did, but how he dealt with the consequences. He was not killed. His punishment was to live with himself. It sounds less terrible than prison, but in the opera Cain explains why his punishment is more terrible than death.”
It is impossible to end an interview with a young opera singer without asking if this fact helps her in dating. “Every person I tell is an opera singer who responds well,” she says. “I hear comments like ‘wow, you guys are so special.’
“The First Murder” by Alessandro Scarlatti performed by the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra and Meitar Opera Studio: YMCA International Jerusalem; Zucker Hall, Tel Aviv Hall of Culture; Mishkan for the Arts, Ness Ziona