Friday, January 18, 2013

Meet the Opera: The Magic Flute

The Three Ladies admire Tamino--photo from San Francisco Opera courtesy of photographer Takashi Hatakeyama
As part of our ongoing "Meet the Artist" series, we offer this as a prequel post. It's better than any movie prequel you've seen, we promise. Today, we invite you to "Meet the Opera" and read about Mozart's The Magic Flute.

Plato is credited with saying, "The beginning is the most important part of the work." So, we're beginning with a synopsis of The Magic Flute posted on The Metropolitan Opera website, a cast list from our website, and an analysis by music critic and writer, Peter G. Davis posted on the Cincinnati Opera website.

From The Metropolitan Opera, a synopsis of Mozart's The Magic Flute:


The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute
Libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder
World premiere: Vienna, Theater auf der Wieden, September 30, 1791

A mythical land between the sun and the moon. Three ladies in the service of the Queen of the Night save Prince Tamino from a serpent. When they leave to tell the queen, the birdcatcher Papageno appears (“I’m Papageno”). He boasts to Tamino that it was he who killed the creature. The ladies return to give Tamino a portrait of the queen’s daughter, Pamina, who they say has been enslaved by the evil Sarastro. Tamino immediately falls in love with the girl’s picture (“This portrait’s beauty”). The queen, appearing in a burst of thunder, tells Tamino about the loss of her daughter and commands him to rescue her (“My fate is grief”). The ladies give a magic flute to Tamino and silver bells to Papageno to ensure their safety on the journey and appoint three spirits to guide them (Quintet: “Hm! hm! hm! hm!”).

Sarastro’s slave Monostatos pursues Pamina but is frightened away by Papageno. The birdcatcher tells Pamina that Tamino loves her and is on his way to save her. Led by the three spirits to the temple of Sarastro, Tamino learns from a high priest that it is the Queen, not Sarastro, who is evil. Hearing that Pamina is safe, Tamino charms the wild animals with his flute, then rushes off to follow the sound of Papageno’s pipes. Monostatos and his men chase Papageno and Pamina but are left helpless when Papageno plays his magic bells. Sarastro enters in great ceremony. He punishes Monostatos and promises Pamina that he will eventually set her free. Pamina catches a glimpse of Tamino, who is led into the temple with Papageno.

Sarastro tells the priests that Tamino will undergo initiation rites (“O Isis and Osiris”). Monostatos tries to kiss the sleeping Pamina (“Men were born to be great lovers”) but is surprised by the appearance of the Queen of the Night. The Queen gives her daughter a dagger and orders her to murder Sarastro (“Here in my heart, Hell’s bitterness”).

Sarastro finds the desperate Pamina and consoles her, explaining that he is not interested in vengeance (“Within our sacred temple”). Tamino and Papageno are told by a priest that they must remain silent and are not allowed to eat, a vow that Papageno immediately breaks when he takes a glass of water from a flirtatious old lady. When he asks her name, the old lady vanishes. The three spirits appear to guide Tamino through the rest of his journey and to tell Papageno to be quiet. Tamino remains silent even when Pamina appears. Misunderstanding his vow for coldness, she is heartbroken (“Now my heart is filled with sadness”).

The priests inform Tamino that he has only two more trials to complete his initiation. Papageno, who has given up on entering the brotherhood, longs for a wife instead (“A cuddly wife or sweetheart”). He eventually settles for the old lady. When he promises to be faithful she turns into a beautiful young Papagena but immediately disappears.

Pamina and Tamino are reunited and face the ordeals of water and fire together, protected by the magic flute.

Papageno tries to hang himself on a tree but is saved by the three spirits, who remind him that if he uses his magic bells he will find true happiness. When he plays the bells, Papagena appears and the two start making family plans (Duet: “Pa-pa-pa-pageno!”). The Queen of the Night, her three ladies, and Monostatos attack the temple but are defeated and banished. Sarastro blesses Pamina and Tamino as all join in hailing the triumph of courage, virtue, and wisdom.

Opera Omaha Cast List as of January 18, 2013:


CAST
(in order of vocal appearance)
                                                                Tamino                                                    Shawn Mathey*
                                                                1st Lady                                                   Diana McVey*
                                                                2nd Lady                                                   Leah Wool
                                                                3rd Lady                                                   Elisabeth Bieber
                                                                Papageno                                                Corey McKern
                                                                The Queen of the Night                          Emily Hindrichs*
                                                                Monostatos                                            Tracy Wise*
                                                                Pamina                                                    Monica Yunus
                                                                The Spirits                                               Riley Eddins*+
                                                                                                                                Camilo Ferreira*+
                                                                                                                                Joseph Klinker*+
                                                                                                                                Matt Rynkiewicz*+
                                                                The Speaker                                            Bradley Smoak*
                                                                Sarastro                                                  Thomas McNichols*
                                                                First Priest                                              Edwin Vega*
                                                                Second Priest                                          Darik Knutsen*
                                                                Papagena                                                Jamie-Rose Guarrine*
*Opera Omaha Debut
+Member of Metropolitan Boys Choir of Minneapolis, MN

The Opera Omaha Chorus                      Ballet Nebraska                      The Omaha Symphony

From the Cincinnati Opera Website:

Unlocking Magic Flute’s Mysteries by Peter G. Davis

Although among the most popular and instantly enjoyable operas in the repertory, Mozart’s The Magic Flute tends to baffle those who expect an opera plot to unfold with orderly consistency—like Puccini’s La Bohème, for example, a poignant love story told with economy, clarity, and no fancy pretenses. The Magic Flute, on the other hand, can often seem like a puzzling hodgepodge of events, ranging from low farce to sublime solemnity, and opinions differ widely over what it all means.

Characters freely come and go, some changing from goodies to baddies without warning, while one scene tumbles into another in playful ways that often seem to defy logic. Even the time and place are inconsistent in this never-never land, a setting that includes suggestions of ancient Egypt, far-eastern mysticism, somber Masonic rituals, pious biblical allusions, or comical antics that one might encounter at 18th-century Viennese puppet shows or vaudeville entertainments.

For many of course, such unpredictable volatility is part of the opera’s charm. After all, Mozart and his librettist, the actor-impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, who also performed the role of Papageno in the first performances at Vienna’s Theater auf der Wieden in 1791, were more interested in entertaining audiences than presenting a subtly developed theater piece with a coded agenda. Nothing could be farther from a typical Wagnerian music drama, which can be enjoyed as a straightforward retelling of a colorful myth but one that always invites complex analyses of the action’s underlying symbolism.

Perhaps the most confusing characters in The Magic Flute are its two adversarial power figures, the Queen of the Night, ruler of an ambiguously dark and shadowy unnamed realm, and Sarastro, high priest of the sun-drenched world of Isis and Osiris. The Queen mourns the loss of her daughter, Pamina, stolen from her by Sarastro, and recruits the guileless young Prince Tamino to rescue the girl. At first we are quite prepared to accept the Queen’s good intentions and moral high ground—after all, her motherly concern seems genuine, her three ladies gallantly save Tamino from the clutches of a deadly serpent, and his companion, the high-spirited birdcatcher Papageno, is justly but gently punished for telling fibs. But when Tamino reaches the land of Sarastro, all our expectations are suddenly turned around. The “evil sorcerer” Sarastro himself is revealed as a ruler of profound wisdom and goodness, while the Queen of the Night is unexpectedly unmasked as the epitome of evil and corruption.

To some commentators these role reversals come as inexplicably abrupt and arbitrary. One might even think that Schikaneder, whose libretto borrowed elements from a variety of Viennese theatricals that were popular at the time, had simply changed his mind about the plot halfway through Act I and never bothered or had the time to find a way to smooth out the inconsistencies. All sorts of explanations have been advanced to rationalize the situation. Perhaps the most ingenious is the suggestion that the whole opera is meant to be seen and experienced through the eyes of Tamino as he gains knowledge and insight. The prince at first unquestioningly believes what he sees and hears when the opera begins, but he gradually matures in perception and grace as he becomes worthy of Pamina, thanks to Sarastro’s benign influence and tuition.

Others see a more mundane commentary on contemporary political events working beneath the surface. Both Mozart and Schikaneder were Freemasons, and symbols of the order’s practices appear in many scenes of the opera—the three chords that open the opera’s overture and are frequently heard thereafter clearly represent a novitiate knocking at the lodge door to gain entrance, while Tamino’s enlightenment trials have their own resemblance to Masonic initiation rituals. Since the Austrian empress Maria Theresa was vehemently opposed to the Masons and did what she could to break up their lodges, it is not too far-fetched to see her portrayed here as the vengeful Queen of the Night and Sarastro as her more benevolent but inevitably estranged opposite number. Some have gone so far as to suggest that the Queen and Sarastro were once married and had a daughter named Pamina, thereby turning the whole opera into an elaborate domestic squabble centered on child custody.

Then again, perhaps all these fanciful interpretations only serve to make us lose sight of what is most important about the opera itself. The great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman suggested as much in his film version of The Magic Flute, which in one illusion-shattering moment takes us backstage during intermission to show the singers of the Queen and Sarastro in their dressing rooms, intently engaged in a down-to-earth but very competitive card game. Forget about the absurdities, Bergman seems to be telling us. This is, after all, just an opera, and its profundities are best understood by reading the rapt faces of audience members as shown onscreen during the overture, reacting to the sublimity of Mozart’s music. What an inspired device to illustrate how music, the universal art, creates the true magical consistency of The Magic Flute.

Many have tried to describe the potency of Mozart’s score, none more extravagantly than George Bernard Shaw. The Irish playwright and music critic even went so far as to proclaim that Sarastro’s pronouncements were the only musical utterances in his experience that could worthily come from the mouth of God. On the other hand, there is definitely an element of wheedling insincerity and self-absorption in the Queen of the Night’s lamenting first aria, while the sheer coloratura ferocity of the concluding section—vocal fireworks that become even more brilliant in her second-act “vengeance” aria—vividly reveals her true evil character.

On a more human level, Mozart finds precisely the correct musical tone to contrast the earthy everyman spirit of Papageno and his mate Papagena with the more elevated spiritual quest of Tamino and Pamina on their path to human enlightenment. How appropriate that both couples are guided to their goals with the help of a musical instrument, Tamino’s magic flute and Papageno’s enchanted set of bells. Within that context Tamino and Pamina endure their trials of fire, earth, and water accompanied by music that is positively breathtaking in its transparency and eloquent simplicity. The pure-at-heart Papageno attains his own illuminating moment—and a wife—through music of more ebullient lyricism, and we are convinced that he has fully earned a lifetime of family bliss because his music so unmistakably describes his inherent good nature.

There are still aspects about The Magic Flute that some will find troubling. The racist depiction of Monostatos, an evil Moor improbably in the service of Sarastro, is deplorable, while the rigid rules, regulations, and misogynist activities of Sarastro’s order (presumably representative of the Masons) often seem rather less than benign. In fact, one could easily imagine how impossible Schikaneder’s libretto might strike us had it been set to music by any number of the lesser composers who flourished during the late 18th century. Mozart, however, emphasized the spirit of the drama more than its letter, and positively reveled in all the generous opportunities he was given to clothe the action in music of dazzling variety, invention, and depth of expression.

The conductor Sir Thomas Beecham once defined a composer of genius as one capable of writing music that enters the ear with ease and leaves it with difficulty. That sounds very much like The Magic Flute, and explains why we never tire of exploring its richness.

Peter G. Davis, author of The American Opera Singer, writes for The New York Times and Opera News. He was music critic for New York magazine for 26 years.

 

 




 

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Meet the Artist: Garnett Bruce, Director

The Jun Kaneko designed production of Mozart's The Magic Flute requires a relatively large number of people to be on stage at one time. Sometimes, this happens with gigantic puppets, multiple dancers, and 12 foot tall costumes! With all that action onstage at one time, it is a fantastic challenge for a Stage Director.

Opera Omaha is pleased to welcome Garnett Bruce back to our company and city to meet that challenge. Mr. Bruce previously served as Opera Omaha's Artistic Adviser and Principal Stage Director. It will be wonderful to work with him again and to see what he has planned for this monumental production.

Garnett Bruce is hailed by the media for his "playful and humorous" interpretation of classic works (Timothy McDonald, Johnson County Sun, September 27, 2002) and for bringing "great imagination and theatrical coherence to his staging." (John W. Barker, The Daily, April 30, 2011) More media reviews and interviews are available on Mr. Bruce's website.

Please join us in welcoming Mr. Bruce back to Omaha as our Director for The Magic Flute. If you do not yet have your tickets, they are still available for our Friday, February 22, 7:30pm and Sunday, February 24, 2:00pm performances. Tickets can be purchased online through Ticket Omaha or by phone at 402-345-0606.

The information below is Garnett Bruce's biography submitted for publishing in our program. More information about Mr. Bruce is available through this link.



Garnett Bruce

Garnett Bruce - 2012

In the 2012/13 Season Garnett Bruce returns to Opera Omaha bringing the Jun Kaneko designed production of The Magic Flute which he also brings to Opera Carolina.  He returns to the Dallas Opera to stage Aida and Turandot, Austin Lyric Opera for I Pagliacci, and creates bel canto scenes for gala performances with Lyric Opera Baltimore. He continues his work as teacher and stage director at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University.

During the 2011/2012 season he staged Turandot for the opening of the San Francisco Opera's season as well as for the inaugural production for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City's Kaufmann Performing Arts Center. He returned to the Dallas Opera to stage Lucia di Lammermoor, followed by Don Pasquale for Opera Memphis, and his production of La Cenerentola for Madison Opera. 

Mr. Bruce’s rich body of work includes companies across the country such as Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Washington National Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Cincinnati Opera and Utah Symphony & Opera and his European opera debut staging Turandot for the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. He was the Artistic Adviser and Principal Stage Director for Opera Omaha from 2008-2011. 
 

Monday, January 14, 2013

Meet the Artist: Nicholas Cleobury, Conductor

Today, we begin "Meet the Artist" blog posts for our upcoming production of Mozart's The Magic Flute. There is no better place to begin this series than with our fabulous guest conductor, Nicholas Cleobury. Maestro Cleobury's biography reads like a really good travel novel. He is an accomplished conductor, chorus master, and teacher who works in locations across the globe.

Opera Omaha is thrilled to welcome Maestro Nicholas Cleobury as our conductor for The Magic Flute. Tickets are still available for the February 22, 7:30pm and February 24, 2:00pm performances of Mozart's classic opera. Your seats can be reserved at Ticket Omaha or by calling 402-345-0606.

More information about the Maestro is available below. Please take a moment to visit his website to learn even more about his varied background and biography.

Welcome to Omaha, Maestro Cleobury!

Maestro Nicholas Cleobury



Nicholas Cleobury – short biography from Rayfield Allied

Nicholas Cleobury is Artistic Director of Mid Wales Opera, Principal Conductor of the John Armitage Memorial (JAM), Principal Conductor and Founder Director of Sounds New, Principal Conductor of the Oxford Bach Choir, and Founder Laureate of the Britten Sinfonia.

Cleobury has a wealth of operatic experience, having worked with companies including English National Opera, Glyndebourne and Opera North, Canadian Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, the Royal Opera Stockholm, and extensively with Zurich Opera. 

Noted in particular as an orchestral and choral conductor, Nicholas Cleobury has conducted all the major orchestras in the UK, Europe, Scandinavia, Singapore, South Africa and beyond, and choirs including the Swedish and Danish Radio Choirs, the Berkshire Choral Festival (UK and USA) and numerous major choirs in the UK, including the Royal and Huddersfield Choral Societies and the BBC Singers.

A regular broadcaster with the BBC, Classic fM and on European radio, his discography includes highly regarded recordings of Mozart Concertos with the Britten Sinfonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, an award-winning CD of the music of Richard Strauss for EMI, Bridge, Headington, Maw and English Music with the Britten Sinfonia, and many others including the Chopin Piano Concertos.

“Among this country’s most dynamic and versatile conductors” - The Independent
 





Thursday, January 10, 2013

The Uses of Enchantment

Artwork by Dan Toberer
The title is intriguing. It sounds mysterious and maybe a bit ethereal. How would you use "enchantment" in visual or performing arts? How does art enchant you?

We're excited to partner with event organizer and artist, Paula Wallace, in an invitational show that encouraged visual interpretations of our upcoming productions of Mozart's The Magic Flute and Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle. We're merging art forms! How exciting!

Come, join us, and explore local artists' interpretation of the theme in a show at Hot Shops Art Center. The artists' reception and gallery opening for "The Uses of Enchantment" is this Friday, January 11 from 6-9pm. Wine and cheese will be available. This event is FREE and open to the public.

This is part of the Art for Food series of gallery openings. Please bring a canned good or two for donation to the Omaha Food Bank. The big, blue barrels will be in Hot Shops' lobby on Friday waiting for you to fill them.

Artwork by Girl Scout participants in Artventures


More information and a link to event information on Hot Shops' website is below.



The Uses of Enchantment
Friday evening, 11 January, 6-9 P.M.
Nicholas Street Gallery - Hot Shops Art Center
1301 Nicholas Street
Omaha NE 68102

The event is free and open to the public. Non-perishable food donations are being accepted to support the Food Bank. Help us fill the barrels to overflowing.
The Omaha Entertainment Award nominees are also presenting work across the hall in the 1301 Gallery. Art everywhere!

Artwork by David Hansen
The Uses of Enchantment invites the artist and the viewer to consider the themes found in two very different tales being presented by Opera Omaha as part of their 2012-2013 season: The Magic Flute and Bluebeard's Castle. Like the ambiguities and contradictions of life, the composers invite the listener into stories through compelling melodies and a libretto which defies – or defines – the lushness of the music with the dramas of the characters. The artist may see the story, finding its narrative in the common – or certainly using what is common as their agent of vocabulary: clay, pigment, metal, wood, paper.

Begin the year with the arts. Find beauty. Nurture creativity. Be surprised.

Artwork by Matt Schrader
Please join us!