12.01.2016
“An opera we love”
„If we ever found ourselves on a desert island, we’d want to have Die Zauberflöte with us,“ agreed members of the cast of the production at the Opéra de Lausanne. „Mozart put everything into this opera: music from the past and of the future, music for intellectuals and the common man.“
The production, created by the German set designer and director Pet Halmen, will be brought to St. Petersburg by Eric Vigié, Director of the Opéra de Lausanne. The performance was excellently received by critics in Lausanne, and preparations for the Russian première, set to take place at the Mikhailovsky Theatre on 22 March, are now under way. We would like to present excerpts from some of the articles written about the production in the European press.
„The curtain is raised; on the stage, we see a model building in flames. When Pet Halmen began work on Die Zauberflöte, a fire at the Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimer destroyed thousands of books and musical scores, including a first edition of Mozart’s opera and some of Goethe’s handwritten manuscripts. Halmen knew the library very well, having worked in Weimar for several years, and was so affected by this awful event that he decided to incorporate it into his production. Thus it was that the main reading room at the library became the central location of the plot’s action... This production is both original and perceptive, a work of great poetic force...“ (www.concertonet.com)
„The directorial decisions made for this production are certainly to the opera’s benefit. Halmen has strengthened and accentuated the inherent duality in the work: there is a burnt out library and a fully-functioning one, there is night and day, there is action and quiet reflection. The visual aspect of the production is magnificent. Our first encounter with the charred library is a very powerful moment, akin to a hallucination...“ (www.forumopera.com)
„Why this library? Because it symbolizes an ark of knowledge, a temple of wisdom. It is a great collection, including of musical scores, many of which perished in the fire... The trials by fire and water at the end of the opera offer an echo of the opening scene, in which we see Tamino in student dress, trying to carry some of the books to safety, whilst in the background a model of the Duchess Anna Amalia Library is engulfed in flames. In other words, Tamino’s attempts to save these books act as a metaphor for the preservation of culture... Sarastro has certain traits that are reminiscent of Goethe, especially in the final scene, when the library is filled with books, lined up with great care and attention on the shelves, as though it has evaded disaster...“ (Le Temps)
„Now here is an opera we love, and its richness doesn’t come from its name alone. First and foremost, the set designs are magnificent, and thoroughly modern in their aesthetics: the lush costumes, the level of work that clearly went into the makeup and hair design, and the effect of the all-pervading light, which creates a magic that pervades the entire work“ (www.leprogres.fr)
„From a visual perspective, many of the backdrops are a resounding success. The dialectics between black and white is symbolized by the burnt-out library, in which the Queen of the Night appears, and another image of that same library, shining in white on the occasion of Sarastro’s arrival. The opposition of these two worlds is a form of struggle, one which is unfolding within the minds of the protagonists... This Zauberflöte does not depict a journey; rather, it accompanies the characters on their own internal struggles“ (Le Temps)
The production, created by the German set designer and director Pet Halmen, will be brought to St. Petersburg by Eric Vigié, Director of the Opéra de Lausanne. The performance was excellently received by critics in Lausanne, and preparations for the Russian première, set to take place at the Mikhailovsky Theatre on 22 March, are now under way. We would like to present excerpts from some of the articles written about the production in the European press.
„The curtain is raised; on the stage, we see a model building in flames. When Pet Halmen began work on Die Zauberflöte, a fire at the Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimer destroyed thousands of books and musical scores, including a first edition of Mozart’s opera and some of Goethe’s handwritten manuscripts. Halmen knew the library very well, having worked in Weimar for several years, and was so affected by this awful event that he decided to incorporate it into his production. Thus it was that the main reading room at the library became the central location of the plot’s action... This production is both original and perceptive, a work of great poetic force...“ (www.concertonet.com)
„The directorial decisions made for this production are certainly to the opera’s benefit. Halmen has strengthened and accentuated the inherent duality in the work: there is a burnt out library and a fully-functioning one, there is night and day, there is action and quiet reflection. The visual aspect of the production is magnificent. Our first encounter with the charred library is a very powerful moment, akin to a hallucination...“ (www.forumopera.com)
„Why this library? Because it symbolizes an ark of knowledge, a temple of wisdom. It is a great collection, including of musical scores, many of which perished in the fire... The trials by fire and water at the end of the opera offer an echo of the opening scene, in which we see Tamino in student dress, trying to carry some of the books to safety, whilst in the background a model of the Duchess Anna Amalia Library is engulfed in flames. In other words, Tamino’s attempts to save these books act as a metaphor for the preservation of culture... Sarastro has certain traits that are reminiscent of Goethe, especially in the final scene, when the library is filled with books, lined up with great care and attention on the shelves, as though it has evaded disaster...“ (Le Temps)
„Now here is an opera we love, and its richness doesn’t come from its name alone. First and foremost, the set designs are magnificent, and thoroughly modern in their aesthetics: the lush costumes, the level of work that clearly went into the makeup and hair design, and the effect of the all-pervading light, which creates a magic that pervades the entire work“ (www.leprogres.fr)
„From a visual perspective, many of the backdrops are a resounding success. The dialectics between black and white is symbolized by the burnt-out library, in which the Queen of the Night appears, and another image of that same library, shining in white on the occasion of Sarastro’s arrival. The opposition of these two worlds is a form of struggle, one which is unfolding within the minds of the protagonists... This Zauberflöte does not depict a journey; rather, it accompanies the characters on their own internal struggles“ (Le Temps)
