In Barrie Kosky's production of The Magic Flute, everything is straight out of a fairy tale, and every idea demonstrates the director's immense sense of humor, who must have thoroughly enjoyed the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. When the red curtain opens, the audience sees only a white screen, where the frolics begin – the director imaginatively juggles, to the rhythm of Mozart's music, elements of silent film, slapstick comedy, and cartoon. The co-creators of this production – Suzanne Andrade and Paul Barritt of the "1927" ensemble – have combined film animation with live theater. The effect is dazzling. Here, Papageno, this bawdy simpleton, here portrayed as a sad clown in the style of Buster Keaton, gets drunk in the company of pink elephants honking cocktails from narrow glasses. The Queen of the Night is a giant spider, Monostatos appears as a pale vampire in a Count Dracula costume, and Pamina wears a black wig with fringe, which makes her resemble the actress and dancer Louise Brooks, a star of silent films.

The Magic Flute

Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera

Late Romantic, atmospheric, dramatic, beautiful: the Shakespeare tone poem Hamlet and Ophelia by Edward MacDowell, the first US composer to achieve international acclaim. He was still strongly influenced by European tradition: lots of Liszt, a bit of Brahms, a dash of Edvard Grieg - that was the mix. The first true musical Americana emerged with ragtime, jazz, and the popular music influenced by them. George Gershwin was a pioneer in the fusion of these genres with classical music. Master arranger Robert Russell Bennett has combined the hits from his opera Porgy and Bess into a colorful panorama in his Symphonic Picture . The southern part of the continent also sends its greetings with Rhythm of the Americas by US jazz and fusion musician Bob Mintzer. Afro-Caribbean, jazz, and much more combine to create a fiery mix in this concert for saxophone quartet and orchestra. At the helm: the Israeli-American conductor Nimrod David Pfeffer, closely associated with the New York Met and the Lyric Opera Company of Guatemala.

Four Saxophones And Porgy & Bess

Meistersinger Hall

A beloved New York holiday tradition, Mozart’s enchanting musical fairy tale returns in the Met’s abridged, English-language production by Julie Taymor—the Tony Award–winning director of Broadway’s The Lion King. With dazzling puppets and a colorful setting, the Met’s Magic Flute is one of the city’s ultimate seasonal sensations for family audiences.

Nimrod David Pfeffer

Events

Upcoming events

Dec 3, 2025 - Jan 4, 2026

The Magic Flute · Polish National Opera

Past events

Dec 3, 2025 - Jan 4, 2026

The Magic Flute · Polish National Opera

Nov 8, 2025

Four Saxophones And Porgy & Bess · Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Porgy and Bess by Gershwin

Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in The Magic Flute by Mozart

Polish National Opera

Conductor in Hamlet and Ophelia by MacDowell

Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Rhythm of the Americas by Mintzer

Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra

About

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