David Serero comes to Tel Aviv

French baritone opera star will be performing at the Felicia Blumenthal Concert Hall this Wednesday evening.

By JOSHUA LIPSON
David Serero370 (photo credit: David Serero, Courtesy)
David Serero370
(photo credit: David Serero, Courtesy)
As part of a tour in Israel to promote his new album, All I Care About is Love, French baritone opera star David Serero will be performing at the Felicia Blumenthal Concert Hall this Wednesday evening in Tel Aviv. But for Serero, of Moroccan Jewish descent, Israel is far more than another stop on an artist’s travel itinerary.
“This is my fourth time performing as a singer in Tel Aviv, but I used to come all the time as a kid. It’s a special occasion, because my new album has just been released in Israel, and I had the honor on July 14 of singing for Shimon Peres. But there really is something about Israel – that every time you come, you feel at home. You feel that all the other people around you are like family members you’ve always heard about, but never gotten to meet,” he warmly told The Jerusalem Post.
Only 32 years old, Serero has managed to rack up a series of distinguished accomplishments in the Broadway and opera worlds. However, his initial approach to opera was hardly planned – the result, he explains, of an odd accident.
“Originally, I was a pianist, and one day I had a rollerskating accident. For weeks, I was not able to play piano, so I started to sing – which became a way for me to express my love for people. And when I moved to New York and began acting and singing, people told me that I had a strong voice, and told me to look into opera,” he said.
“American people have a great talent for making something that feels like it’s not for you feel like it is. In France, people asked me: ‘You have dark hair, your family is from Morocco, what do you know about opera?’ In America, people said: ‘You don’t know much about opera? Take my hand, and I’ll show you.’” Serero, who is modest about his celebrated success, emphasizes that his music is meant to serve others – a sentiment reflected in the title of his new album, All I Care About is Love.
“More than anything, I try to get people to have a good time because I know how hard they work. I also know that opera doesn’t need me – but I have a unique way of e x p r e s s i n g things, because no one feels how I feel. I do it my way, and I’m always trying to do it better.
There’s nothing worse for an audience than to see an artist just pressing the play button.”
His newest release is a curated selection of performance highlights, including “If I Were a Rich Man,” “’Ol Man River,” and a duet of “Autumn Leaves” with Jermaine Jackson. It follows two previous albums drawn from Serero’s diverse background in opera, Broadway and traditional Jewish music.