The Children of the Sultan

The twins Fadaya and Taseh embark on a long journey: they are looking for their father. He is not just anyone, but rather the ruler of Sultania, a faraway land in the desert. The path to his palace proves to be ridden with danger. On their way, the children run into a hungry giant snake that wants to lure them to his cave and gobble them up as his supper, then they are washed away by a raging torrent only to face a steep unsurmountable desert wall. How can they overcome these obstacles? Magical figures and omniscient objects accompany them and help the resourceful children find their way. The most important company they have on their adventure is a very special creature: a talking camel!

Using varying motifs from oriental fairy tales, the renowned children and youth theater author Ingeborg von Zadow made up a story that is contemporary, but also seems to come from the distant past. The liveliness of foreign lands is captured in Avner Dorman’s music: Dorman is an Israeli composer, who, working in New York, experiences daily the coming together of different cultures that is so essential to this opera. The prize-winning young musician likes to use exotic instruments and exotic musical scales in his works, which he combines with more traditional western styles. He so invents imaginative soundscapes that are dashed with a good smattering of musical humor.