Opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder

In German with surtitles

Premiere on 17 July 2013 – 9.15 p.m, Seebühne

Dura­tion approx. 2 ¼ hours, no interval

What begins like a fairy-tale turns into a whim­si­cal fan­ta­sy halfway between mag­ic farce and Mason­ic mys­ti­cism: The Mag­ic Flute links a love sto­ry with the great ques­tions of the Enlight­en­ment, jux­ta­pos­es bird-catch­er charm with queen­ly vengeance, and bewitch­es the lis­ten­er with music that mix­es cheer­ful melodies, lovers’ arias, show-stop­ping col­orat­uras and mys­te­ri­ous chorales.

Mozart’s 1791 pre­miered opera – one of the most often per­formed operas in the world – is being staged on the Bre­genz Fes­ti­val lake stage in the sum­mer of 2013 and 2014. The Mag­ic Flute was last seen on the Bre­genz See­bühne in 1985 and 1986. It will be direct­ed by the fes­ti­val’s artis­tic direc­tor David Pount­ney with a stage designed by Johan Engels, and cos­tumes and pup­pet design by Marie-Jeanne Lec­ca. This trio won great acclaim inter­na­tion­al­ly in 2010 with their stag­ing of the opera The Pas­sen­ger at the Bre­genz Festspielhaus.

Prince Tamino is attacked by a giant ser­pent. Instead of doing bat­tle and slay­ing it, he faints. The Queen of the Night sends her ladies to res­cue him – only to con­front him with a far greater chal­lenge: if Tamino frees her daugh­ter Pam­i­na, who has been abduct­ed by Saras­tro, then he will have her as his wife. When the queen shows him a pic­ture of her daugh­ter, Tamino falls in love on the spot and agrees to take up the chal­lenge. Accom­pa­nied by the bird catch­er Papageno, three enig­mat­ic ladies and three know­ing boys, Tamino sets off – equipped with mag­ic instru­ments with which to tame wild beasts and at the end to save the two lovers from death by fire and drowning.

Fur­ther performances
19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30 and 31 July 2013 — 9.15 p.m.
1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 August 2013 — 9 p.m.

Review in Ger­man (click on the pic­ture below to down­low PDF file)

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