The Magic Flute - Opera Australia

Media Release – Opera Australia Brisbane Season 2012
**NEW PRODUCTION**
Opera Australia’s 2012 Brisbane Season opens with opera for 21 st century audiences
The Magic Flute
Opens 26 May 2012, Queensland Performing Arts Centre
The Magic Flute - Metropolitan Opera production © Ken Howard for Metropolitan Opera 2009
Giant puppets, sensational costumes, dazzling sets and dancing animals… Opera Australia’s first Brisbane season in
two decades begins on 26 May with opera that is truly for the 21 st century. Mozart’s The Magic Flute, will captivate
audiences at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) from 26 May to 8 June, 2012.
Julie Taymor’s wildly imaginative, highly-acclaimed production of The Magic Flute was created for New York’s
Metropolitan Opera. It now comes to Queensland for the first time. Taymor is best known for directing the awardwinning
Broadway musical The Lion King. For her Flute, first seen in 2002, she took Mozart’s music and, using an
idiomatic English translation by American poet J. D. McClatchey, George Tsypin’s amazing designs and her trademark
skills in visual art, puppetry, mime and dance, fashioned a 100 minute show designed to appeal to children of all ages.
New Yorker critic and author of The Rest is Noise, Alex Ross, described the premiere season as ‘deeply dazzling’, saying,
“The Met stage has never been so alive with movement, so charged with color, so brilliant to the eye.”
This production is a celebration of Australian talent. Taryn Fiebig, who toured Australia in the title role of My Fair Lady,
plays Pamina, while Andrew Brunsdon is her prince Tamino. Opera Australia favourite Kanen Breen is the frisky gaoler
Monostatos, and the trio of ladies comprises Elisa Wilson, Sian Pendry and Tania Ferris.
The cast also features members and graduates of the Moffatt Oxenbould Young Artists Program, including Kiandra
Howarth, who plays Papagena, Samuel Dundas as the First Armoured Man and Andrew Jones who plays the muddleheaded
birdman Papageno. Also of note is Operatunity Oz winner and computer-programmer-turned-opera-singer
David Parkin, who performs the role of Sarastro.
Finally, Opera Australia welcomes Brisbane-based soprano Milica Ilic as Queen of the Night. Serbian-born Milica, who
migrated to New Zealand in 1996, joined Opera Queensland as a Young Artist in 2009, and has been wowing audiences
up and down the state. Now she makes her debut with Australia’s national opera company in one of opera’s most
notoriously difficult roles. The role of Queen of the Night is written for a virtuoso singer, with two showcase arias
featuring spectacular high, fast and furious passages.

Media Release – Opera Australia Brisbane Season 2012
**NEW PRODUCTION**
Mozart’s final work for the theatre is a real puzzle – not quite an opera, not quite a play with music, and not quite a fairy
tale. Prince Tamino is lost in a strange land when three ladies approach him and ask him to rescue a beautiful young girl,
Pamina, with the help of a magic flute. He agrees to help them, but it soon becomes clear that the ladies and their ruler,
the Queen of the Night, are not necessarily the good guys.
The story was put together by librettist and impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, who included a juicy part – Papageno, the
bird-catcher – for himself. It is full of references to Freemasonry (Schikaneder was a prominent freemason, and Mozart
was also a member), and the power of truth and knowledge over superstition.
Opera Australia’s artistic director Lyndon Terracini says, “The Magic Flute is one show you must take the whole family
to see this year. It’s a brilliant piece of theatre, and a brilliant example of what opera can be in the 21 st century.”
CAST:
Director Tamino Papagena
Julie Taymor Andrew Brunsdon Kiandra Howarth
Rehearsed by Pamina Monostatos
Matthew Barclay Taryn Fiebig Kanen Breen
Set Designer Papageno Speaker
George Tsypin Andrew Jones Andrew Collis
Costume Designer Queen of the Night Priest 1
Julie Taymor Milica Ilic Malcolm Ede
Puppetry Designers Sarastro Priest 2
Julie Taymor & Michael Curry David Parkin Samuel Dundas
Lighting Designer First Lady First Armoured Man
Gary Marder Elisa Wilson Sam Roberts-Smith
Based on the original design by Second Lady Second Armoured Man
Donald Holder Sian Pendry Adrian Tanburini
Third Lady
Tania Ferris
(Details subject to change)
Running time: Approximately 100 minutes with no interval.
Performed in English with surtitles
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION BOOKINGS
Lyric Theatre Tickets:
Queensland Performing Arts Centre $60 - $165
Evenings at 7.30pm: Early bird and family specials avail
May 26, 29, 31 and June 6, 8 QPAC Box Office
Matinee at 1.00pm: June 2 136 246, www.qpac.com.au
Opera Australia Media Enquiries
Imogen Corlette, National PR & Publicity Manager: T: 0410 520 776 // E: imogen.corlette@opera-australia.org.au
Myriam Conrie, Senior Publicist T: 0410 361 350 // E: myriam.conrie@opera-australia.org.au
Prue Vercoe, Consultant Publicist T: 0410 541 663 // E: prue@vinecomms.com.au
Season Sponsor