Audrey Luna (Queen of the Night); Anya Matanovic (Pamina); Robert Breault (Tamino). Photo Credit: Utah Opera.
Die Zauberflöte is without question one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s best works for the stage. It ranks right up there with the three da Ponte operas for its thematic inventiveness, memorable music and perceptive character delineation.
It’s also one of his most popular. There doesn’t seem to be a season where it isn’t staged somewhere in the United States or Europe. Utah Opera has mounted it three times since 1985 and starting Saturday the company is bringing it back once again, in a revival of Thaddeus Strassberger’s production. “What I love about this production is that it gives you different aspects of the East,” said stage director Paul Peers, who assisted Strassberger in Utah Opera’s 2006 staging. “It’s really our perception of what the East is and not a realistic depiction.”
The mystery of Freemasonry and the mystique of Egypt fascinated people at the end of the 18th century when Die Zauberflöte was written, and the staging revels in this – but in a rather stylized and imaginative manner, Peers said.
But no matter how one approaches the story behind Die Zauberflöte – with its battle between the noble high priest Sarastro and the evil Queen of the Night and with its ritualistic trials that Tamino and Pamina must undergo to attain salvation and enlightenment – the underlying premise of the opera is a search for love. “Everyone is seeking love,” Peers said. And they all look for it in their own way, he added, whether it’s the lofty ideals of Tamino or the more earthy desires of Papageno or the unabashed lust of Monostatos. “The basic story is very human.”
And it can appeal to everyone, said Robert Breault. “There are multiple layers. An eight-year-old gets it. An 80-year-old gets it. That’s why it’s universal.”
“You can appreciate Die Zauberflöte on any level, whether it’s the fantasy element or the struggles the characters go through,” said conductor Tim Long.
Breault, who directs the University of Utah Lyric Opera Ensemble, sings Tamino, a role with which he is very familiar. “I sang it for the first time when I was 23. I thought the story was brilliant then and I still think it’s brilliant today.”
This is Breault’s first appearance with Utah Opera since Lucia di Lammermoor five years ago, and he’s thrilled to be back on the Capitol Theatre stage. “I’ve been having a great time. I love performing here.”
Tamino is a rather difficult role to portray, Breault said. “He’s impetuous at first He’s out of his element and confused. Everything is new to him and he’s constantly discovering things.”
Audrey Luna (Queen of the Night); Anya Matanovic (Pamina). Photo Credit: Utah Opera.
However, perhaps the most complicated person to understand is the Queen of the Night. When she first appears onstage she is the grieving mother who makes Tamino promise to rescue her daughter Pamina from Sarastro. Later on in the story she is a vengeful demon bent on destroying Sarastro’s temple. “She is a fantastic character,” Peers said. “She is onstage only a short time, but she makes a lot of things happen.”
Audrey Luna is this production’s Queen. She has sung the role over a hundred times in more than a dozen different stagings. The role is notorious for its two coloratura arias in which the singer has to hit the high F more than once. “I don’t think about the notes,” she said. “What I think about is how to make it come together.”
The most difficult thing about the Queen, however, is all the waiting backstage, Luna said. “I bring a book, a computer, music. I don’t sit and worry.”
The opera will be sung in German with English dialogue and supertitles.
- PERFORMANCE DETAILS
- What: Utah Opera, Die Zauberflöte
- Venue: Capitol Theatre
- Time and Date: 7:30 p.m. March 16, 18, 20, 22; 2 p.m. March 24
- Tickets: $15-$93 ($5 higher when purchased on day of performance); limited number of $10 Youth Tickets and discounted USUO Upbeat Tickets for patrons 30 and under available for the Monday and Wednesday performances
- Phone: 801-355-2787, 888-451-2787
- Web: www.utahopera.org
- ALSO: Opera Prelude, pre-concert lecture by Utah Opera principal coach Carol Anderson, in the back of the orchestra seating level one hour prior to each performance, free.
- ALSO: Question & Answer session with artistic director Christopher McBeth, immediately following each performance, at the front of the orchestra seating level, free.