Alma Deutscher has composed her own version of Cinderella, which takes place in an opera house. Cinderella is transformed into a young composer, who offers the poet prince melodies to compliment his verses.
It isn’t just Deutscher’s remarkable talent that is producing the Mozart comparison. The genius composer was also 11 when his first opera was premiered in 1767.
Deutscher explained in a recent interview that she began composing before she even knew what the term meant at the age of four. By then, she had already been playing piano for two years and had also taken up the violin. Besides the opera, she already has written a number of sonatas and concertos for violin and piano.
She’s not impressed with the Mozart comparison though. Rather than following in his footsteps, she just wants to be a “little Alma,” as she told the interviewer.
Musicians are impressed by the 11-year-old child prodigy’s musical abilities. Australian soprano Anna Voshege, who will play one of the stepsisters in the opera, commented, “I heard the music before I knew she was 11, I was really quite shocked. Some of the nuances in that music are really very special, very intricate.”.”
You can experience an early chamber music version of the opera from a performance in Israel below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IzTR8qdVLs