OPERA BY 11-YEAR-OLD RECEIVES OVATION IN VIENNA

Child prodigy: Alma Deutscher

An 11-year-old British composer Alma Deutscher has received a standing ovation in Vienna for the premiere of her opera, Cinderella.

The opera, which runs to two-and-a-half hours, was sung in German and staged at Vienna’s Casino Baumgarten theatre. The role of Cinderella was played by Theresa Kruegl, appearing with the Viennese opera group Oh!pera.

Deutscher, whose opera was showered with the sort of press coverage that few premieres at the Vienna State Opera would receive, was hailed in the Austrian media as a ‘Wunderkind’ and her talents likened to those of the young Mozart. With music that draws on the Classical style of the 18th century, she reimagined the tale of Cinderella, setting it in an opera house run by the wicked stepmother. Instead of a glass slipper, the missing link that resolves the plot is a tune that Cinderella starts to sing as she flees the ball, but remains incomplete when it catches the Prince’s ear. The rest of the opera hinges on the Prince’s attempts to discover the singer who can complete the melody that has haunted him…