World premiere of the work 'Ahlam' (Dreams), 2026. song and Yemenite poetry. Widely regarded as a milestone in the development of program music, Symphonie fantastique demonstrates how music can tell a vivid story and express complex emotions and ideas without words.
Dan Ettinger Conducts Berlioz and Ella Milch-Sheriff
World premiere of the work ‘Ahlam’ (Dreams), 2026
Text by Orit Fouks Rotem (from the script for the film “Cinema Sabaya”)
Sung in Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, and Yemenite, the work is inspired by a Persian women’s folk song and Yemenite poetry. As if echoing the work itself, war erupted during its composition, involving Israel, the United States, and Iran. Against this backdrop, the work takes on an added resonance: it blurs the cultural and linguistic boundaries that define the Middle East. The two singers move seamlessly between languages, so that neither emerges with a single, clearly defined identity.
Berlioz – Symphonie fantastique
Widely regarded as a milestone in the development of program music, Symphonie fantastique demonstrates how music can tell a vivid story and express complex emotions and ideas without words. Composed in 1830, it portrays an artist consumed by obsessive, unrequited love whose opium-induced visions lead him through a series of increasingly fantastic dreams and nightmares.
Dan Ettinger Conductor
Shani Oshri Soprano
Rona Shrira Contralto
2.11.26 Tel Aviv // 3.11.26 Rishon LeZion
