New York, NY (December 28, 2006)—This holiday season, music lovers around the world will experience the beloved music, dazzling creatures, and lavish set designs of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, the Met’s new, 100-minute English-language version directed by Julie Taymor, when the production debuts as the company’s first holiday presentation. The series of six matinee performances of The Magic Flute runs from December 29 through January 4 and kicks off a host of initiatives created by the Met to reach a larger, international audience—including the company’s first Open House for public school students, and a series of opera performances to be broadcast live in high-definition into movie theaters.
The Magic Flute features a stellar cast, including baritone Nathan Gunn as Papageno, Matthew Polenzani as Tamino, Ying Huang as Pamina, René Pape as the high priest Sarastro, and Erika Miklósa as the Queen of the Night. For the December 31 performance, the cast includes Aaron St. Clair Nicholson as Papageno, Gregory Turay as Tamino, Lyubov Petrova as Pamina, and Mari Moriya as the Queen of the Night. Morris Robinson sings Sarastro in all performances except for December 30. Met Music Director James Levine conducts performances on December 29, December 30, December 31, and January 1. Jens Georg Bachmann conducts performances on January 2 and January 4.
“Our abridged, English-language version of The Magic Flute is the Met’s answer to The Nutcracker,” said Met General Manager Peter Gelb. “It’s the perfect production for attracting new and younger audiences to opera.”
Young Audiences Experience Mozart’s Classic
As part of the company’s new initiatives to attract a broader audience, the Metropolitan Opera will open its doors on January 4 to New York City’s public schools for a free day at the opera. In cooperation with the New York City Board of Education, students aged 8 to 17 from all five boroughs will attend the matinee performance of The Magic Flute, followed by a backstage tour and creative workshops that are designed to appeal to young adults and take them behind the scenes to learn how an opera comes alive.
“We are delighted that our students will be able to experience a live performance of this beautiful opera and we are grateful to both Mr. Gelb and the Metropolitan Opera for their generosity,” added New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. “In this year, the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, it is especially fortuitous that our students will be given the opportunity to attend this magnificent production.”
Funding for the open house and free performance has been generously provided by Agnes Varis, a managing director of the Met’s Board of Directors, and her husband, Karl Leichtman. The Metropolitan Opera Guild will host 90-minute pre-performance “Opera Explorers” workshops on The Magic Flute on December 29, 30 and 31 beginning at 10:30 am. The workshops are held at Lincoln Center’s Stanley H. Kaplan penthouse. Registration is $49 per person and includes a ticket to the same-day matinee performance
The Magic Flute Seen and Heard Around the World
In a ground-breaking effort to build a larger audience around the globe, the December 30 performance of The Magic Flute kicks off “Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD,” a landmark series of six Met performances to be broadcast live via satellite into movie theaters across North America, Europe, and Japan. The Flute broadcast, which is hosted by Katie Couric, airs on Saturday, December 30 at 1:30 PM/ET; 10:30 AM/PT; 6:30 PM/GMT, with time-delayed broadcasts in Japan on December 31. On December 30, the performance will be also broadcast live at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater, on the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network, and on the Metropolitan Opera channel on Sirius Satellite Radio (Channel 85).
The “Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD” series launches around the world on Saturday, December 30 and includes the following six operas live from the Met: the new English-language version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (December 30), Bellini’s I Puritani (January 6), Tan Dun’s The First Emperor (January 13), Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (February 24), Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (March 24) and Puccini’s Il Trittico (April 28). For more information on “Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD,” please visit http://www.metoperafamily.org/hdlive.
Third Season of Die Zauberflöte Continues
For audiences who love their Mozart in the original German language, Julie Taymor’s fantastical production of Die Zauberflöte continues in its third season at the Met, featuring an all-star cast. Maestro Levine conducts nine of this season’s sixteen performances, continuing to showcase his affinity for and mastery of Mozart, having led seven of the composer’s other operas at the Met in the last three years. Scott Bergeson conducted the initial performances and alternates with Levine until the end of the run on January 12.
About the Met
Under the leadership of new General Manager Peter Gelb, the Met has launched many initiatives to connect the company with a larger audience. They include: a first-ever free open house that offered the public an opportunity to attend the final dress rehearsal of Madama Butterfly; an extensive transit advertising campaign in New York City during the month of September; $15 tickets (formerly $26) in the Family Circle section; the new Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman Rush Ticket program that offers 200 orchestra seats deeply discounted to $20 for weekday performances, available at the box office two hours before curtain; the new Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery Met exhibiting contemporary art; a groundbreaking commissioning program in partnership with the Lincoln Center Theater that provides renowned composers and playwrights the resources to create and develop new works at the Met and Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater; and dynamic new content on the web site, the house program, and the radio broadcasts.
The Met recently announced the use of advanced distribution platforms and state-of-the-art technology to attract new audiences and reach millions of opera fans around the world. On September 25, “Metropolitan Opera Radio on Sirius” launched as a 24-hour satellite radio channel broadcasting live and rare historical performances. The Met presents free live streaming of performances from its website once every week with support from RealNetworks®.