Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte Is June 3, 2023, Saturday Radio Broadcast

Summary: Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte is the June 3, 2023, Saturday matinee radio broadcast, airing as 23rd of the 2022-2023 season's 24 Saturday radio broadcasts.

The 2022-2023 Met Opera season's lineup of Saturday matinee radio broadcasts includes three Mozart operas, Idomeneo (upper right), Don Giovanni (lower left) and Die Zauberflöte (lower right): Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Twitter Jan. 27, 2023

Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte is the June 3, 2023, Saturday matinee radio broadcast, airing at 1:00 p.m., Eastern Time, as the 23rd of the 2022-2023 Met Opera season's lineup of 24 Saturday matinee opera broadcasts.

Classical Era composer Wolfgang Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791) set his musical score for Die Zauberflöte ("The Magic Flute") to a German libretto by Emanuel Schickaneder (Sep. 1, 1751-Sep. 21, 1812), stage name of Bavarian playwright and impresario Johann Joseph Schickeneder. Composer and librettist sourced their allegorical opera in their association with the fraternal organization of Freemasonry.

Die Zauberflöte premiered Friday, Sep. 30, 1791, at Schikaneder’s theater, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden, also known as Wiednertheater, near the center of Vienna, northeastern Austria. The fairy-tale opera numbered as the second Mozart opera with a Wiednertheater premiere and as the second collaboration with Schikaneder on the operatic genre of Singspiel (German: Singspiel, plural: Singspiele, "sing-play'), a German-language musical drama comprising singing and spoken dialogue. Their first fairy-tale Singspiel, Der Stein der Weisen, Oder die Zauberinsel (The Philosopher’s Stone, or the Enchanted Isle), had premiered Saturday, Sep. 11, 1790, at Schickaneder's theater.

Die Zauberflöte's Metropolitan Opera premiere took place Friday, March 30, 1900, at the opera company's first opera house, located at 1411 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan's Garment District. Sung in Italian, Il Flauto Magico received five performances in the 1899-1900 season.

The Metropolitan Opera debuts Simon McBurney's new production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in the 2022-2023 season. The English director made his Met Opera debut Friday, May 19, 2023, along with his new Mozart production in the opera company's 478th performance of Die Zauberflöte.

McBurney's new production receives nine performances in the 2022-2023 season. The new production opened Friday, May 19, at 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time. The second through fourth performances took place Monday, May 22, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, May 25, at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, May 27, at 8:00 p.m. The fifth through ninth, closing performances are scheduled for Wednesday, May 31, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday matinee radio broadcast, June 3, at 1:00 p.m.; Tuesday, June 6, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, June 8, at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, June 10, at 8:30 p.m.

Nathalie Stutzmann conducts the first three and fifth through ninth, closing performances, including the Saturday matinee radio broadcast June 3. The French conductor and contralto had made her Met Opera debut Friday, May 5, 2023, in opera company's 577th performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Maestro Stutzmann shares the conductorship with Gareth Morrell, who conducts the new production's fourth performance. The British conductor had made his Metropolitan Opera debut Wednesday, Jan. 20, 1999, in the opera company's 516th performance of Lucia di Lammermoor by 19th-century Italian bel canto opera composer Gaetano Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848).

Lawrence Brownlee appears in all nine performances as Prince Tamino, who is gifted with a magic flute and three spirit guides from three attendants of the Queen of the Night for his journey to rescue the Queen's daughter, Princess Pamina, from her supposed captor, Sarastro. The American operatic tenor had made his Met Opera debut Thursday, April 26, 2007, as Count Almaviva in the opera company's 561st performance of Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (Feb. 29, 1792-Nov. 13, 1868).

Erin Morley appears in all nine performances as Princess Pamina, who joins Prince Tamino in his successful completion of the last two trials of wisdom as initiate in Sarastro's temple. She first added Princess Pamina to her Met Opera portfolio in the opera company's 443rd Die Zauberflöte performance, during the 2018-2019 season's abridged, English version of American film and theater director Julie Taymor's 2004-2005 new production. The American coloratura soprano had made her Met Opera debut Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, as the First Madrigal in the opera company’s 211th performance of Manon Lescaut by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924).

Thomas Oliemans appears in all nine performances as Papageno, who is gifted with magical silver bells as companion on Prince Tamino's rescue journey. The Dutch baritone's appearance as Papageno in the new production's opening night, Friday, May 19, marked his Met Opera debut.

Stephen Milling appears in all nine performances as Sarastro, whom the Queen of the Night has intentionally misconstrues as evil. He first added Sarastro to his Met Opera portfolio in the opera company's 358th Die Zauberflöte performance, during the 2006-2007 season's second revival of Julie Taymor's 2004-2005 new production. The Danish bass had made his Met Opera debut Friday, March 12, 2004, as Sparafucile in the opera company's 785th performance of Rigoletto by 19th-century Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901).

Kathryn Lewek appears in all nine performances as the Queen of the Night, Princess Pamina's mother who unsuccessfully schemes Sarastro's murder by her daughter. In the 2022-2023 season, the American coloratura soprano makes her seventh reprisal of the role in which she had made her Met Opera debut Saturday, Dec. 28, 2013, in the holiday version of Julie Taymor's production, during the opera company's 413th performance of Die Zauberflöte.

Brenton Ryan appears in all nine performances as Monostatos, who fails in his attempts to seduce Princess Pamina. In the 2022-2023 season, Brenton Ryan sings in German the role that he first sang in English in the 2018-2019 season's abridged, English version of Julie Taymor's production. The American tenor had made his Met Opera debut Friday, April 22, 2016, as Pedrillo in the opera company’s 69th performance of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail.

Alan Held appears in all nine performances as Sprecher, the Speaker of the Temple. He first sang the role in German in the 1992-1993 season and in English in the 2022-2023 season's holiday presentation. The American bass-baritone had made his Met Opera debut Monday, April 17, 1989, as Mr. Redburn in the opera company's 33rd performance of Billy Budd by Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (Nov. 22, 1913-Dec. 4, 1976).

Simon McBurney's production team for Die Zauberflöte comprises Michael Levine, set designer; Nicky Gillibrand, costume designer; Jean Kalman, lighting designer; Finn Ross, projection designer; and Gareth Fry, sound designer. Canadian set designer Michael Levine and French lighting designer Jean Kalman had made their Met Opera debuts Thursday, March 13, 1997, in the opera company's 104th performance of Eugene Onegin by Russian late Romantic era composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (May 7, 1840-Nov. 6, 1893). Scottish video designer Finn Ross had made his Met Opera debut Monday, Sep. 23, 2013, in the opera company's 136th performance of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. United Kingdom (UK) costume designer Nicky Gillibrand and UK sound designer Gareth Fry shared their Met Opera debuts Friday, May 19, 2023, with their director in his new production's debut, in the opera company's 478th performance of Die Zauberflöte.

The 2022-2023 Met Opera season's lineup of Saturday matinee broadcasts continues with the June 10, 2023, airing of Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer, at 1:00 p.m. The matinee performance numbers as the 24th of the season's 24 Saturday matinee opera broadcasts.

English actor, playwright and theatrical director Simon McBurney encouraged the cast of his 2022-2023 Met Opera season premiering production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte to explore the four elements of fire, water, air and earth via movement during rehearsals, as illustrated by St. Petersburg, Russia-born, New York City-based illustrator Jenny Kroik: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Twitter May 22, 2023

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

The 2022-2023 Met Opera season's lineup of Saturday matinee radio broadcasts includes three Mozart operas, Idomeneo (upper right), Don Giovanni (lower left) and Die Zauberflöte (lower right): Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Twitter Jan. 27, 2023, @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/1619106563830042625

English actor, playwright and theatrical director Simon McBurney encouraged the cast of his 2022-2023 Met Opera season premiering production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte to explore the four elements of fire, water, air and earth via movement during rehearsals, as illustrated by St. Petersburg, Russia-born, New York City-based illustrator Jenny Kroik: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Twitter May 22, 2023, @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/1661064781661454342

For further information:

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Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "Happy birthday Mozart! Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on this day in 1756, and after more than two centuries, his works remain the cornerstones of the operatic repertoire. Which of his operas is your favorite? Experience Mozart at the Met: http://bit.ly/3MU96ty." Twitter. Jan. 27, 2023.
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