American music and opera director Julie Taymor’s breathtaking production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s masterpiece The Magic Flute will be shown in high-definition video at York University’s Keele campus on Sunday, April 1 at 2pm. The film will be screened in the Price Family Cinema, Accolade East Building.
Filmed before a live audience at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, this video presentation is part of the York Circle Prestigious Performance Series and is part of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2010-2011 season.
Scenes from Julie Taymor’s production of “The Magic Flute”
Presented in an abridged, English version, Taymor’s production stars the world-renowned baritone Nathan Gunn in the role of the irrepressible bird-catcher Papageno.
Special guest Professor Guillaume Bernardi of the Drama Studies Program at Glendon College will introduce the film. Bernardi is a Toronto-based stage director and teacher whose work covers a wide range of genres from theatre and opera to movement pieces.
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts, composed in 1791 by Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a singspiel, a popular style that includes both singing and spoken dialogue. The opera is set in a mythical land between the sun and the moon. Three ladies in the service of the Queen of the Night save a lost (and very handsome) Prince Tamino from a serpent. The queen, appearing in a burst of thunder, tells Tamino about the abduction of her daughter, Pamina. Tamino, who has fallen in love with a portrait of Pamina, agrees to rescue her. The ladies give a magic flute to Tamino and silver bells to his friend Papageno, the bird-catcher, to ensure their safety on the journey, and appoint three spirits to guide them. What follows is a quest that tests both Tamino and Papageno as they search for Pamina.
The event is organized by York Circle, a program that offers parents and families of York students, alumni, staff and members of the public an opportunity to hear leading York faculty speak about their ideas and their research. The York Circle’s Prestigious Performance series showcases world-class concerts, theatre and opera, presented in high-definition video, with introductions by some of these professors. The York Circle is supported in part by York’s Alumni Office and print media sponsor Toronto Community News.
General admission tickets are $15.95 plus HST. Tickets for York Circle members and students are $12.95 plus HST. Tickets for children 12 years of age and younger are $9.95 plus HST. Tickets can be purchased online.