Putting the magic back into Zauberflöte at Aix

By David Karlin, 08 July 2018

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“each moment exuding a sense of rightness, that this opera could not make as much sense any other way”

Reviewed at Grand Théâtre de Provence, Aix-en-Provence on 6 July 2018

Mozart, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)

Raphaël Pichon, Conductor

Simon McBurney, Director

Michael Levine, Set Designer

Nicky Gillibrand, Costume Designer

Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Tamino

Mari Eriksmoen, Pamina

Kathryn Lewek, Queen of the Night

Thomas Oliemans, Papageno

Dimitry Ivashchenko, Sarastro

Judith van Wanroij, First Lady

Rosanne van Sandwijk, Second Lady

Helena Rasker, Third Lady

Christian Immler, The Speaker (Der Sprecher)

Bengt-Ola Morgny, Monostatos

Lilian Farahani, Papagena

Trystan Llŷr Griffiths, First Armoured Man, First Priest

Ensemble Pygmalion

NDT1 in Figures in Extinction: cerebral and physical excellence

Deborah Weiss, 5th November

An extraordinary evening of dance theatre of the highest quality, Figures in Extinction for Nederlands Dans Theater 1 is a thought provoking experience worth repeating.

*****

Figures in Extinction: a thrilling evening with NDT 1

Kathy Elgin, 22nd August

An evening focused on the separation of humanity from the natural world and the destruction of that world, either because of ignorance, greed or just not caring.

*****

McBurney's delightfully batty Magic Flute returns to the Coliseum

Susannah Moody, 28th February

English National Opera brings back Simon McBurney's theatre of wonders for this Mozart classic.

****1

McBurney's Magic Flute makes a triumphant return to DNO

Clare Varney, 1st December

After its Met Opera debut earlier in the year, Simon McBurney's popular staging returns to Amsterdam.

*****

Musically peerless but battering: Wozzeck in Aix

David Karlin, 7th July

Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO give an orchestral performance to remember, with a fine singing cast, but Simon McBurney's staging dials the bleakness to maximum too early.

***11

Simon McBurney’s richly inventive Zauberflöte arrives at the Met

Susan Stempleski, 22nd May

With a stellar cast and fine orchestral playing, Mozart’s enigmatic fairy tale takes on a darker, more grown-up tone in its first new Metropolitan Opera staging in 19 years.

*****

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David Karlin

David is a co-founder of Bachtrack. He is a musical omnivore interested in almost all types of music, but with a particular love of Italian opera. You can contact him from this link.

Putting the magic back into Zauberflöte: Simon McBurney at Aix