It’s not a well-known fact, but besides some other natural resources, Israel is a country that lacks tenors. Which is why the singers of the Opera Studio program of the Israeli Opera always look forward to the Spring Opera Workshop, one of the annual programs of the Federation’s Tel Aviv/Los Angeles Partnership.

“Israeli men tend to be baritones and basses,” said Tamir Chasson, music director of the Opera Studio. “This project gives us some tenors for two weeks, and lets young singers meet each other just as they’re embarking on their careers.”

This year, the workshop directors included a Jewish composer theme for its final performance, choosing works that included music by Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, Kurt Weill and Israeli composer Sasha Argov.

“There aren’t really any operas composed by Jews, because Jewish composers weren’t involved in the mainstream musical world until the second half of the 19th century,” said Chasson. “The first important Jewish composer in the opera world was Jacques Offenbach, and that’s how we opened the evening.”

The two-week workshop always culminates with a performance being held on the final evening of the program. Called Oh Man! Oh Woman!, it revolved around the stories of love and relationships. Using scenes from different operas and plays, the performance showed the spectrum of relationships, from West Side Story to Candide to Carmen.

“It was truly a thrill to be in Tel Aviv for the third annual Opera Master Class concert," said Todd Shotz, vice chair of the Partnership's Entertainment & Performing Arts committee. ”It was great to see the efforts of both sides of the Partnership firsthand. The three tenors who were brought in from L.A. were beautifully featured throughout the concert, complemented by the excellent singers from the Israeli Opera’s young performer program."

“The highlight of the evening was the candle duet from La Boheme and some selections from Leonard Bernstein’s work Candide,” Shotz said. “Israeli Opera artistic administrator Michael Ajzenstadt in his introduction to the evening said in selecting the pieces, they made an effort to take note of their surroundings and time in history and therefore feature some Jewish composers, who had been banned during the Nazi regime.”

“It was great to treat each piece in its own style, and to give the singers the tools they needed to bring to each piece,” added Chasson.

For Vera Calabria, the Los Angeles-based stage director who chooses and accompanies the American group, the draw of the Spring Opera Workshop is working with young singers.

“I love working with young people, and this particular workshop demands a lot of attention on character and acting,” says Calabria, an amateur linguist who switched easily between Spanish and English while directing her singers during rehearsals. “There are very good voices in Israel. What’s lacking is that they’re so focused on voice and technique that they forget about character. So we need to whip that into shape.”

Most of the singers in both groups are in their mid-twenties and early thirties, and have already graduated from university music programs. The Opera Studio, like the workshop, is an opportunity to train in a professional environment, explained Chasson. “It’s a much higher speed, and much more demanding because there are so many disciplines to master,” he said. “But they also learn how to be a colleague and how to become professionals.”

The two-week program, which just completed its third year, always hosts American tenors, explained Calabria. “You’ve got all these soprano girls here and their duets are always with tenors, so you have to give them this chance.”

Ilona Toivis, one of the Israeli sopranos, was particularly pleased with this year’s tenors and the program. The mix of pieces offered the opportunity to sing the duets that get ignored because of the lack of tenors, said Toivis, a 32-year-old soprano. “It’s singing that I just don’t get to do otherwise.”

“The whole workshop is really just great training,” added Ville Lignell, a bass and another member of the Israeli Opera Studio. “It was fun because the mix of musical styles freed us up from the operatic style and frame of thinking. Theater gives you more information; it’s less about the beauty of the voice and more about the ability to portray the music. You’re really acting out the character.”

For the three young tenors from the United States, Edgar Ramírez, John Gomez and Timur Victor Bekbossunov, the opportunity to visit and work in Israel was “fantastic,” said Ramirez.

“I’ve always wanted to come to Israel,” said Ramirez, a Mexican who moved to Los Angeles to work on his operatic career. “Working with Israelis feels a lot like working with Mexicans. Everyone’s very warm and easy to get to know, and that’s what this business is all about, working with people.”

His colleague, John Gomez, who is originally from Venezuela and recently graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Music, was equally enthusiastic about the program.

“It’s wonderful for me,” he said. “There are rehearsals every day, lessons in acting, a director on the scene and the opportunity to come to Israel. It’s very intense, because we’re working on everything, our singing, our acting skills. Vera’s really polishing us up.”

It’s an intense two weeks, agreed Chasson, Calabria’s partner for the project. The group spends most of their time rehearsing for the program’s culminating performance, although they do spend some time touring around Israel.

“It’s like a crash course,” added Chasson. “But they all love it.”

For more information about the Tel Aviv/Los Angeles Partnership, please contact Jill Holtzman Hoyt at (323)761-8161 or JHoyt@JewishLA.org.