a new Festival at Baden-Baden. The main focus of the Easter Festival 2013 is four performances of Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute” conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, in a production by a director well-known to readers of this blog.
The Berliner
Philharmonker Digital Concert Hall site says:
The Canadian Robert Carsen has directed productions for almost every major opera house. He is fascinated by the complexities in the Magic Flute: "It is completely designed around opposites. Day and night, love and hate, man and woman, the hero Tamino and the simple Papageno." Musically, too, the Magic Flute has an infinite variety - and given the immense popularity of the opera, this wealth is often overlooked.
Sir Simon Rattle says: "Let's not forget what a raging masterpiece the Magic Flute is, and how different it was from anything anybody had done before - even Mozart." The Baden-Baden production provides a wonderful opportunity to discover the Magic Flute anew - in a performance that is supported not only by an outstanding cast, but also by the magic of the beginning of a new festival era.
The Financial Times commented,
Add a top-drawer cast – Pavol Breslik [above] is all you could wish for in a Tamino, Michael Nagy’s Papageno is charismatic and lithe, Kate Royal gives Pamina subtle complexity as well as grace – and you have the makings of a gratifying evening.
Watch this production on April 1 at Digital Concert Hall or at Arte Live Web. It looks like it will
remain online for a while at Arte, while the DCH site will not be archiving the
performance. (Edited 4/9/13: However a concert performance from the Philharmonie will be webcast and archived.)
And while we are waiting, you can check out the Arte Blog on DieZauberflote. Here's one of the eight episodes (featuring Michael Nagy, last seen at RnR singing Bach:
Papageno and Papagena
Wonderful costumes!!
ReplyDeleteNot elaborate, but effective.
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