A mammoth production featuring the world's leading opera stars 

Director: Rosemary Danziger | Conductor: David Aronson (Vienna State Opera) | Choral Conductor: Assaf Bènraf | Cast: Eugenia Dushina, Zurab Zurabishvili, Pedro Carrillo Ferrera, Rona Shrira, Avigail Gurtler Har-Tuv, Oleg Lebedyev and Doron Florentin | Choirs: A Cappella Jerusalem Vocal Ensemble (Music Director: Assaf Bènraf), Jerusalem Chamber Choir (Music Director: Tom Karni), Shahar Rehovot Choir (Music Director: Gila Brill) and Ankor Children's Choir Jerusalem (Music Director: Dafna Ben Yohanan) 

The two short operas, Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni and Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, are among the crown jewels of Italian opera, and beloved by operagoers. Both belong to the genre called "Verismo", characterized by a biting realism that reflects the deepest human emotions through a totality of musical and dramatic means. Casting Verismo operas requires opera stars with large and strong dramatic voices, singers capable of conveying the emotions that erupt from the depths of the soul. For the production of the Vienna-Tel Aviv Vocal Connection, international singers who have performed these demanding roles at major opera houses worldwide were selected for the main roles. 

The performance is in Italian with Hebrew and Russian subtitles