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Die Zauberflöte
photo by Zeininger, CTC
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Composer |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
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Librettist |
Emanuel Schikaneder |
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Venue and Dates |
Vienna Staatsoper 4, 6, 9 January 2005 |
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Conductor |
Julia Jones |
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Director |
Marco Arturo Marelli |
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Performers |
Sarastro : Walter Fink Queen of the Night : Milagros Poblador Tamino : Rainer Trost Pamina : Genia Kühmeier Papageno : Simon Keenlyside Papagena : Sabina Cvilak Speaker / 2nd Priest : Peter Weber 1st Priest : Peter Jelosits 1st Armed Man : Arnold Bezuyen 2nd Armed Man : Johannes Wiedecke 1st Lady : Ricarda Merbeth 2nd Lady : Stella Grigorian 3rd Lady : Janina Baechle Monostatos : Herwig Pecoraro 3 Boys : Wiener Sängerknaben |
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Chorus and Orchestra of the Weiner Staatsoper |
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Production team |
Marco Arturo Marelli (stage designs and lighting) Dagmar Niefind-Marelli (Costume designs) |
What the critics say
Kronen-Zeitung, 8 January 2005
Translated by Ursula Turecek
State Opera: Mozart’s “Zauberflöte”. Without perfection.
Around Mozart’s birthday on the 27 January – this year it is the 249th – the director of the Vienna State Opera, Ioan Holender, every year schedules Mozart-weeks: The Mozart-repertoire, presented in a mixture of the Opera House company and prominent guests! This year the Mozart round was inaugurated with three performances of “the Magic Flute”.
During the second half of January the three Da-Ponte-operas “Marriage of Figaro”, “Cosi fan tutte” and “Don Giovanni” will follow.
The production in the State Opera by Marco Arturo Marelli and Dagmar Niefind-Marelli is only about five years old, yet even now very little to nearly nothing from the original concept is to be experienced. The rest of Marelli’s ideas and the rather ugly, non-heterogeneous settings present themselves now as a mixture of Punch and Judy show, pantomime, with free masonic echos and unintentionally elevated parody to the audience. But all the same the audience is glad not to have to experience an over-directed production.
At the conductor’s rostrum an energetic woman, the American Julia Jones, tried to deal with the Philharmonic. But she has not got a really independent interpretation to offer. On the other hand she indulges the singers far too much far too often.
The variable cast had its low point in Milagros Poblador: A disappointing Queen of the Night who vocally is hard to bear at some instances. Her two arias sound a bit casual, her intonation is not perfect at some critical points. Rainer Trost as Tamino, Walter Fink as Sarastro and Peter Weber as Speaker guaranteed solid without too much profile.
Genia Kühmeier as a warmhearted, wonderfully phrased Pamina is excellent. Sabina Cvilak made an enjoyable debut as a cute Papagena. Simon Keenlyside had suffered a fracture of the ankle recently. Nevertheless he put a non-Viennese but comical Papageno who excelled with his soft baritone in the centre of the representation. Janina Baechle – in Innsbruck an excellent nurse in Strauss’ “Frau ohne Schatten” -, Ricarda Merbeth and Stella Grigorian were the exquisite three ladies.