MOZART’S opera, ‘The Magic Flute’, is regarded as one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.
Composed and premiered in Vienna, Austria, ‘The Magic Flute’ has remained the most performed opera in the world for the past 200 years. Loved by young and old, opera enthusiasts and the curious, it has the most beautiful and unforgettable melodies one can ever imagine. This opera is definitely a highlight in any given opera season at any opera house or theatre anywhere in the world.
‘The Magic Flute’ is in the form of a German Singspiel, a form which includes singing and spoken dialogues. For this production at the Joburg Theatre, the texts will be sung in German, while the spoken dialogues have been adapted to a mixture of South African languages to activate the light-hearted side of this opera and to reach the audience. What better way than to do it with Mozart’s masterpiece ‘The Magic Flute’?
An international cast has been assembled for this production, which surely will be a highlight at the Joburg Theatre this May.
The cast will include Germany-based South African tenor Musa Nkuna as Tamino, South African classical singer Aubrey Lodewyk as Papageno, Germany-based South African soprano Caroline Nkwe as Pamina and Polish coloratura soprano Aleksandra Olczyk as the Queen of the Night. The Three Ladies are Viola Zimmermann, Christine Dammann and Anna Nesyba. Polish bass Marek Gastecki features as Sarastro, and German tenor Henning Jendritza as Monostatos. The award-winning Gauteng Choristers will be the chorus.
The stage director is Dr Christoph Dammann, who has long been an internationally active theatre director and cultural manager, including as director of the Cologne Opera, the Portuguese National Opera Lisbon and the Opera Festival Berlin. Costume and lighting design is by Sybille Pfeiffe and Wolfgang Stärke. This production is accompanied by the German Rhine Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Desar Sulejmani, a young Albanian-German conductor whose conducting takes him to some of Europe’s most important opera houses and concert halls.
‘The Magic Flute’ is a work of art that continues to bewitch artists and audiences alike. The opera is sometimes seen as a statement on the superiority of reason over superstition. Noted for its prominent masonic elements, the love story written by Schikaneder promises to be a highlight for South African theatre-goers this May.
Performances of Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’ are on Wednesday, 18 May, Thursday, 19 May, Friday, 20 May and Tuesday, 24 May. All performances are at 8pm.
Tickets range between R200 and R500, and are available by calling 0861 670 670 or visiting www.joburgtheatre.com, as well as through Webtickets. For group bookings of 10 or more, please contact the theatre directly on 011 877 6853/6815.
