Mozart’s The Magic Flute coming to Joburg Theatre
Joburg Theatre, in partnership with MDN Classics, will be presenting Mozart’s The Magic Flute on the Mandela stage at Joburg Theatre, for four shows only, from May 18 to 24.
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, in 1791, 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, The Magic Flute is definitely a highlight in any opera season.
It is in the form of a German Singspiel, which includes singing and spoken dialogues.
During this production, the texts will be sung in German and the spoken dialogues has been adapted to a mixture of South African languages to activate the light-hearted side of this opera and to be as close as possible to the audience.
An international cast has been assembled including 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, 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 as Sarastro, German tenor Henning Jendritza as Monostatos, and the award-winning Gauteng Choristers will be the chorus.
The stage director is Dr. Christoph Dammann, who has long been an internationally active theater director and cultural manager, including as director of the Cologne Opera, the Portuguese National Opera Lisbon and the Opera Festival Berlin.
Costume and light 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 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 will be held at 8pm on May 18, 19, 20 and 24.
