Review: (Toronto) The Magic Flute

Ambur Braid and Laura Albino (photo by Bruce Zinger)

Tempos off, Singers Lost
Opera Atelier's Magic Flute has serious problems
by Shannon Christy

I am tired of those painted boards in lieu of set. Can I say it loud enough? Can I? Gerard Gauci might be a talented painter exhibiting in Toronto and in Montreal, but I want a set. Not a 2D wall with 2 benches in front.

Opera Atelier’s production of The Magic Flute last night was terrible at best. It felt like a rehearsal, with everything going half tempo and the singers looking directly at the conductor half of the time, as if to make sure they were okay. One thing was sure all right: every singer’s part was very well spelled out. I guess it was a good thing since the opera is sung in English: the surtitles were barely needed but God! Was. It. Slow. By the time it is over you will be working hard to suppress the memory of seeing it. 

Sunday Feature: Marshall Pynkoski on The Magic Flute at Opera Atelier (Toronto)

Opera Atelier’s The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute seems to have a life of its own and galvanizes every performer and every rehearsal in a way that is absolutely unique.
by Marshall Pynkoski 

Opera Atelier Founding Co-Artistic Director and Director of The Magic Flute Marshall Pynkoski's fascination with music, theatre and dance of the 17th and 18th centuries began in classes with the late Leonard Crainford and John Marshall, respectively Chairman and Major Examiner, Royal Academy of Dancing in London. His further studies with Florentina Lojekova (Master Artist of Czechoslovakia) and David Moroni (the Royal Winnipeg Ballet) were pivotal in his decision to pursue a career in ballet. Early in Mr. Pynkoski's professional career, he had the opportunity to undertake in-depth studies of baroque opera and ballet in Paris. His studies continued with renowned baroque dramaturge professor Dene Barnett at Flinders University in South Australia. In 1985 he founded Opera Atelier with his partner Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg and he has since directed a wide range of period productions of baroque and early classical opera and ballet in close collaboration with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. He has acted as guest instructor at the Centre for Baroque Studies under conductor Marc Minkowski with whom he premiered North America's first period production of The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni. Mr. Pynkoski has collaborated with many of the finest artists in the world of early music and his productions of opera and ballet have toured throughout North America, Europe and Asia. He is recipient of numerous awards including the Toronto Arts Award, the Ruby award for Outstanding contribution to Opera in Canada and the TIME Magazine award for classical music. He was named Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres following his international tour of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre.

Given the fact that our upcoming production of The Magic Flute (April 6-13) will mark the fourth time Opera Atelier has produced this opera in only 22 years, you would think we would have a pretty good idea of what to expect from rehearsals, but this is certainly not the case! More than any opera I have ever directed, The Magic Flute seems to have a life of its own and galvanizes every performer and every rehearsal in a way that is absolutely unique. 

Review: (Vancouver) The Magic Flute

Teiya Kasahara (photo credit: Tim Matheson)

Amaze-Deus

A celebrated Magic Flute comes back to Vancouver

by Jay Catterson
(this article has been corrected)

The acclaimed West Coast-inspired production of Mozart's The Magic Flute by the Vancouver Opera has returned to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, this time with new staging and visual enhancements not originally seen in its first incarnation back in 2007. The production, directed by James W. Wright Robert McQueen, felt exciting, fresh and current, firmly planting one foot in tradition and the other in the 21st century. 

Traditional opera purists might feel otherwise, with the original German libretto being swapped out for an English one with traces of Musqueam language strewn throughout, but this production works overall. Added to this production is the use of dazzling high definition projections, combined with curtains and simple set design (mainly consisting of an overhead causeway and a rocky outcrop that was moved about by stagehands), to effectively transport the viewer to the ethereal forest world of the Coast Salish. At times I felt that Sean Nieuwenhuis' projection design was a tad jarring, but for the most part it was highly effective, almost cinema-like, in combination with Kevin McAllister's scenic design.