Alma Deutscher's Cinderella

Conductor.........Jane Glover
Stage director...Brad Dalton

Cinderella...........Vanessa Becerra
Prince.................Jonas Hacker
King...................Nathan Stark
Emeline (fairy godmother)...Claudia Chapa
Stepmother..........Mary Dunleavy
Griselda...............Stacey Tappan
Zibaldona............Karin Mushegain
Minister...............Brian James Myer

Alma Deutscher, in red in the picture above, is about the same age as this blog.  She is English,  began to play piano at 2 and composed a piano sonata at 6.  She is a prodigy of the sort we seldom see these days.

Alma Deutscher's Cinderella is coming to us from Opera San José via medici.tv.  It premiered in Vienna in 2016 in German.  Our version is in English.  One wishes for this, that the genius of music has not left us.  Her understanding of operatic voices and conventions is astounding.  Thomas Adès might take notice.

The plot is closer to Disney than to Rossini.  Mother goes with her daughters to the ball which includes a song competition.  Highly suitable for an opera, don't you think?  The Prince is the poet and Cinderella is the composer.  It is wonderful how much Alma loves her opera.

The star is Alma herself who plays the piano, violin and at the end the organ.   It is a fairy tale of life, just as it should be.  A very enjoyable night at the theater.  It runs until March on medici.tv.

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