The Passion of Opera

This production was, I'm fairly certain, the most thoroughly solid opera I have seen thus far at the Wiener Staatsoper. Everything seemed to fall into place, and the singers were able to craft truly engrossing interpretations of their roles. In general, I am not a fan of   Die Zauberflöte  because I find the plot to be jumpy, crazy, and with ill-joined disparately serious and comical sections. I find it hard to focus and hard to feel compelled by what occurs. This performance blended these different elements perfectly, and even as a critic of the work, I found myself swept up by both pageantry and mysticism. First, background and a synopsis of the wild plot:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Flute DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Adam Fischer |  Dirigent Marco Arturo Marelli |  Regie, Bühne und Licht Dagmar Niefind |  Kostüme   Günther Groissböck |  Sarastro Benjamin Bruns |  Tamino Julia No...

Not only was this visit to the Wiener Staatsoper a first for me (a Handel Baroque opera), but also, apparently, a first for the Staatsoper. I was informed that they either have not, or very unusually have utilized before this production of George Frideric Handel's  Alcina  period instruments, tuning, and technique for a Baroque work. Despite this focus on historical accuracy and musical fidelity, the staging and the set were relatively modern in many ways, taking some liberties with even the ideas of the original story (an arrival on a balloon rather than a hippogryph, for instance). I will say that the production felt very long, with a lot of  da capo  arias. That said, it was extremely well put together, and the abilities of the singers, though not without a few stumbles, were astounding. I must here enter one apology: I do not know Alcina well enough, and the information on the internet is scarce enough such that I will be unable to give aria names, but will...