Magicking Flutes – and pink elephants

By Hilary Stroh, 16 September 2017

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“it embraced every possible peculiarity with virtuosic technical theatrics”

Reviewed at Academy of Music, Philadelphia on 15 September 2017

Mozart, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)

Opera Philadelphia

David Charles Abell, Conductor

Barrie Kosky, Director

Esther Bialas, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Ben Bliss, Tamino

Rachel Sterrenberg, Pamina

Olga Pudova, Queen of the Night

Jarrett Ott, Papageno

Peixin Chen, Sarastro, The Speaker (Der Sprecher)

Ashley Milanese, First Lady

Siena Licht Miller, Second Lady

Anastasiia Sidorova, Third Lady

Ashley Robillard, Papagena

Brenton Ryan, Monostatos

Suzanne Andrade, Director

Opera by committee: Opera Philadelphia premieres Complications in Sue

Cameron Kelsall, 4th February

Opera Philadelphia commissions ten composers to tell the story of an ordinary woman's idiosyncratic march from cradle to tomb.

****1

A didactic Decameron: The Seasons at Opera Philadelphia

Cameron Kelsall, 20th December

Conceived by Anthony Roth Costanzo and Sarah Ruhl, this high-handed pasticcio sets the climate crisis to a soundtrack of Vivaldi.

***11

A long, strange trip: Opera Philadelphia’s Il viaggio a Reims

Cameron Kelsall, 19th September

The intrepid company brings Damiano Michieletto’s well-traveled production of a Rossini rarity to the US for the first time.

***11

The Listeners: daring psychological thriller at Opera Philadelphia

Cameron Kelsall, 25th September

The new opera by Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek draws on cult mindsets and conspiracy theories but smartly avoids sensationalism.

****1

Opera Philadelphia's Unholy Wars creates a dialogue with Monteverdi

Cameron Kelsall, 23rd September

Arab-American tenor Karim Sulayman devises a thoughtful pastiche that centers the perspective omitted from Early Modern depictions of the Middle East in music.

****1

Quinn Kelsey triumphs in Opera Philadelphia's Simon Boccanegra

Cameron Kelsall, 22nd September

In his role debut as the Genoan Doge, the American baritone continues to burnish his bona fides as the premier Verdi baritone of his generation.

****1

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Hilary Stroh

Hilary is an independent scholar and academic historian, based in DC. She has a background in violin, piano and ballet. Educated at Dublin and Cambridge, she has recently published her first two books.

Magicking Flutes – and pink elephants – in the Roaring Twenties in Philadelphia