09/21/13 – The Magic Flute – 1:00pm
San Francisco Opera
THE MAGIC FLUTE by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Recorded Summer 2012, War Memorial Opera House.
Endlessly inventive, charmingly fantastical and utterly unique, Mozart’s final opera is a profound yet lighthearted tale of romantic love, spiritual transcendence and the beguiling art of birdcatching. The internationally acclaimed ensemble cast is led by Rory Macdonald, an exciting young conductor with “a superb natural physical talent” (MusicalCriticism.com), and includes lyric tenor Alek Shrader, a “stylish, vivid” Mozartian (The New York Times); Heidi Stober, a soprano with “rare vivacity of voice and personality” (Houston Chronicle); Nathan Gunn, “a singer with unmistakable star power” (Opera News); Kristinn Sigmundsson, lauded for his performance in San Francisco Opera’s Der Rosenkavalier (2007); and, in the opera’s most virtuoso role, Russian soprano Albina Shagimuratova, who is “in demand everywhere as The Queen of the Night” (The New York Times). Singing the final two performances as Tamino is tenor Norman Reinhardt, “tall, handsome and virile of voice” (Opera Today). In a new production by visual artist Jun Kaneko and sung in English, The Magic Flute is perfect for the whole family.
Sung in English with English supertitles
Approximate running time: 3 hours including one intermission
CAST/CREW
PAMINA HEIDI STOBER
TAMINO ALEK SHRADER
PAPAGENO NATHAN GUNN
THE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT ALBINA SHAGIMURATOVA *
SARASTRO KRISTINN SIGMUNDSSON
FIRST LADY MELODY MOORE
SECOND LADY LAUREN MCNEESE
THIRD LADY RENÉE TATUM
PAPAGENA NADINE SIERRA
MONOSTATOS GREG FEDDERLY
THE SPEAKER DAVID PITTSINGER
FIRST SPIRIT ETIENNE JULIUS VALDEZ *
SECOND SPIRIT JOSHUA REINIER
THIRD SPIRIT JOHN WALSH
FIRST ARMORED MAN BEAU GIBSON
SECOND ARMORED MAN JORDAN BISCH
CONDUCTOR RORY MACDONALD
DIRECTOR HARRY SILVERSTEIN
PRODUCTION DESIGNER JUN KANEKO
LIGHTING DESIGNER PAUL PYANT
CHORUS DIRECTOR IAN ROBERTSON
CHOREOGRAPHER LAWRENCE PECH
* SAN FRANCISCO OPERA DEBUT
photo credits: Corey Weaver
