Wiener Staatsoper's Outstanding Die Zauberflöte
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...