Washington National Opera's merry take on Mozart's Magic Flute

By Sydney Boyd, 03 November 2019

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“Mancasola never sounded anything but clear as a bell and winsome as the moon rising behind her”

Reviewed at Kennedy Center: Opera House, Washington on 2 November 2019

Mozart, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)

Washington National Opera

Eun Sun Kim, Conductor

Christopher Mattaliano, Director

Neil Peter Jampolis, Set Designer, Costume Designer, Lighting Designer

David Portillo, Tamino

Sydney Mancasola, Pamina

Kathryn Lewek, Queen of the Night

Michael Adams, Papageno

Wei Wu, Sarastro

Kevin Short, The Speaker (Der Sprecher)

Washington National Opera Chorus

Washington National Opera Orchestra

Washington National Opera marches onward with a joyous Treemonisha

Sam Jacobson, 15th March

A vibrant new production of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha at Washington National Opera underscores the opera’s enduring message of education, community and social justice.

****1

WNO's Samson et Dalila shows how sweet love's poison can sound

Sydney Boyd, 1st March

Strong singing but a stellar orchestra and staging make for a riveting production at the Kennedy Center.

****1

A #metoo Don Giovanni at Washington National Opera

Sydney Boyd, 29th February

Lots of people talk about keeping opera relevant. WNO shows why this opera always has been.

****1

Russell Thomas shines in gloomy David Alden's Otello

Vishnu Bachani, 26th October

The combination of a strong, spirited cast and a first-rate orchestral performance led by Daniele Callegari rendered the opera a moving experience in spite of drab staging and latent, unexplored tensions.

***11

Venera Gimadieva leads a moving Traviata in DC

Ako Imamura, 21st October

A strong new Traviata from Washington National Opera with the welcome house debut of Venera Gimadieva as a fabulous Violetta.

****1

Musically resplendent Don Carlo in Washington

Edward Sava-Segal, 3rd March

The team of soloists, the chorus and the orchestra, under the baton of Philippe Auguin, powerfully conveyed the spectacular qualities of Verdi's Don Carlo.

****1

More reviews...

Sydney Boyd

Sydney Boyd is an arts writer, scholar, and violinist. She has been a music critic in Houston since 2012 and is the blog author of Girl at the Opera. She has a Ph.D. in English literature from Rice University, where she currently holds a post-doctoral Spatial Studies fellowship in the Humanities Research Center.