Kosky and his multi-award-winning opera company, the Berlin-based Komische Oper will make a triumphant return to the 2019 Adelaide Festival with its most popular and joyous masterwork, Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Following its Berlin premiere in 2012, The Magic Flute has won Opera World Awards, accumulated rapturous reviews and played to over half a million people in 22 cities across Europe, America and Asia.
The Magic Flute is co-directed by Komische Oper’s Artistic Director Barrie Kosky in conjunction with Suzanne Andrade from acclaimed British performance company 1927. Together with Paul Barritt, they have created a thrilling imaginative world which fuses the virtuosity of live opera performance with grand-scale animated tableaux. Their production evokes the enchantment of Buster Keaton’s silent movies, the dark underbelly of Tim Burton and the whimsy and humour of early 20th Century animated cartoons – think Felix the Cat and Betty Boop.
The Magic Flute has played to sell out audiences since 1791 when it was first staged just 8 weeks before Mozart’s death. On one level the work is a fairy tale of a damsel in distress and the handsome prince who rescues her, however beneath the surface the story explores the layers of human experience, the quest for enlightenment and the search for knowledge, justice, wisdom and truth.
Joint Artistic Director Rachel Healy said: “Mozart wrote The Magic Flute as an entertainment and that is where this Kosky/Andrade production succeeds so spectacularly. Back in 2016, I saw their Magic Flute in the middle of a full-to-bursting theatre with every audience member wearing mile-wide grins, and I knew that we had to find a way of presenting it at the Adelaide Festival. The production captures the spirited warmth of the original with a masterful application of 21st century technology.”
Joint Artistic Director Neil Armfield said: “The rise in popularity of graphic novels and anime coincides with the world-wide success of Komische Oper’s The Magic Flute. We are delighted to program a work that appeals so immediately to young audiences and opera first-timers, while also attracting seasoned opera lovers who know that the production values and musicianship of Berlin’s Komische Oper is of the highest possible standard.”
Barrie Kosky said: ‘I saw the work of Suzanne Andrade and Paul Barritt of 1927 and thought it was such a wonderful combination of animation and silent films and 2D and 3D performance – I’d never seen anything like it… Our production is one where you can take kids and grandma. In Berlin it’s almost like a cult production, with people coming six or seven times to see it. I thought Berlin audiences reacted very positively to it until I went to Los Angeles, where they were absolutely screaming with laughter: we sometimes had to stop the film. And it’s also a godsend for seasoned opera audiences who are sick to death of The Magic Flute and bowled over that they can go and see a production where they’re surprised at every aria.’
The centrepiece of the Adelaide Festival’s 2017 season was Barrie Kosky’s production of Saul, produced by Glyndebourne Festival Opera. It was the first time an Australian arts organisation had presented a major operatic work directed by Kosky since he left Australia in 2001. It marked a return to Adelaide for Kosky who was Artistic Director of the 1996 Adelaide Festival and still cites Adelaide Festival as his “favourite Australian festival”. Tickets for Saulsold out within weeks of going on sale with more than 40% of tickets sold to interstate visitors.
Multi-award winning performance company 1927 was founded in 2005 by animator & illustrator Paul Barritt, and writer & performer Suzanne Andrade. Their past works have toured the world and their third show, Golem, was recognised as one of the highlights of the 2016 Adelaide Festival.
Where: Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
When: Fri 1 Mar, 7.30pm
Sat 2 Mar, 1pm & 7pm
Sun 3 Mar, 1pm
Length: 2hrs 40min, including interval
When: Fri 1 Mar, 7.30pm
Sat 2 Mar, 1pm & 7pm
Sun 3 Mar, 1pm
Length: 2hrs 40min, including interval
Tickets: Premium $289, Friends $249, Child* $120
A Reserve $219, Friends $185, Concession $175, Child* $100
B Reserve $189, Friends $160, Concession $152, Under 30 $90, Child* $85
C Reserve $149, Friends $127, Concession $120, Under 30 $70 Child* $65
*Child = 14 and under
A Reserve $219, Friends $185, Concession $175, Child* $100
B Reserve $189, Friends $160, Concession $152, Under 30 $90, Child* $85
C Reserve $149, Friends $127, Concession $120, Under 30 $70 Child* $65
*Child = 14 and under
Priority tickets on sale for the Friends of the Adelaide Festival at 11am 8 August. General public tickets go on sale at 9am Wednesday 22 August. Book at adelaidefestival.com.au or BASS 131 246.
Friends of Adelaide Festival receive 15% discount on all ticketing and access to a priority booking period.
The presentation of The Magic Flute has been made possible by the Adelaide Festival Opera Donor Circle.
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