There are only a few Mozart pieces I’ve consistently liked and appreciated (particularly KV 216, 219, 488, 527, 608, and 626), and Die Zauberflöte isn’t necessarily among them. But a friend invited me to come along, plus it’s a rerun of a rather famous production I’d never seen. It was fun, the opera has many nice melodies after all, and there’s Pamina’s aria in g minor that’s always been my local favorite.
As for the ensemble, there were highs and lows, particularly as not all highs and lows came out as they’re supposed to come out, let’s put it that way. The romantic leading roles, however, were fine—David Fischer’s Tamino and Heidi Elisabeth Meier’s Pamina were a delight to listen to, the latter outstandingly so. The audience was twitchy enough that I anticipated some hardcore fans to go nuclear, but nothing happened, and there were probably no hardcore fans present in the first place. The orchestra got into the groove relatively quickly and delivered a pleasant performance.
The production, I didn’t care for it, although the concept sounds exciting and promises fun. There is no set design because there is no set; instead, it’s a multimedia staging where the performers are real and everything else consists of projected cartoonish animations. These animations aren’t bad, not at all. But they’re generally a bit too agitated to enjoy the music, and they don’t come together into a relatable, consistent whole. Most of these animations use silent movie imagery from the 1920s with Max Schreck vibes and steampunky Fritz Lang look-and-feels on the one hand and whimsically-dark Tim Burton aesthetics on the other, augmented by medievalish memento moris, copious doses of Edelmann, and emoticons reminiscent of Instagram animations. (All of which, one should add, manages to crank the hopelessly confused libretto’s already rampant misogyny up to 11.) Plus, many recitatives are cut out, with their lines flippantly abbreviated and projected as speech bubbles, mysteriously accompanied by various fortepiano compositions by Mozart that are not part of the opera.
But all in all it was entertaining, and so were the gin and tonics we had afterward at a fancy cocktail bar.
Die Zauberflöte, Vienna, 1791. Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, written by Emanuel Schikaneder. Directed by Barrie Kosky & Suzanne Andrade (production) and Antonino Fogliani (music). A production of the Komische Oper Berlin in collaboration with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, March 5, 2026.