...an amazing flourishing of Jewish culture... stunning, heavenly, marvelous... — Israeli National Public Radio
...composer Alex Weiser and librettist Ben Kaplan have scratched well beneath the surface of Herzl the Zionist symbol... [the opera] shows a more human side of the unlikely man who inspired the Zionist movement. —The Forward
...despite my fear of the words ‘modern opera,’ I loved it. — Tablet Magazine
State of the Jews — an opera in two acts with a libretto by Ben Kaplan — is a historical drama about Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), the charismatic and controversial Jewish Austro-Hungarian journalist whose writings ignited a mass political movement. In response to rising antisemitism, Herzl pursues the establishment of a Jewish state, but these political choices come at a great personal cost, wreaking havoc on the Herzl home. The opera interweaves the political turmoil of turn of the century Europe— the rise of nationalist movements, the threat of mass violence, and the struggle for political autonomy— with the true but relatively unknown story of Theodor’s relationship with his wife Julie, and the toll that his political work took on their marriage and lives. In her stark, contrasting response to the same historical circumstances, Julie exposes the complex and, in many ways, still unresolved challenges of that political moment in time.
State of the Jews has been performed in a series of semi-staged preview performances at the 14th Street Y in NYC, and will recieve its premiere at Temple Emanu-El on January 15th, 2025.
Preview performance video available upon request. Please email AlexWeiserMusic@gmail.com
