LA Opera's THE MAGIC FLUTE Returns Next Month

The Magic Flute, one of LA Opera's most sensational productions, returns this season to transport audiences into an enchanted fantasy world.

With seamless interaction between onstage performers and projected hand-drawn animation, this inventive and charming interpretation brilliantly captures Mozart's dazzling celebration of true love conquering all.

Dreamed up by groundbreaking stage director Barrie Kosky (whose La Bohème opened LAO's season) and the masterminds behind the British theater company known as 1927, the revolutionary staging is unlike anything encountered before on the operatic stage. The singers perform in front of a huge screen, interacting in real time with animations projected all around them, creating the impression that gigantic comic strip collages are coming to life before your eyes.

First unveiled at the Komische Oper Berlin in 2012, this reimagining of Mozart's masterpiece has taken the world by storm, seen by more than 350,000 in more than two dozen cities on four continents. In 2013, LA Opera presented the first performances outside Berlin, with a subsequent revival in 2016.

Czech soprano Zuzana Marková makes her LAO debut as Pamina. The role of Tamino will be shared by Russian tenor Bogdan Volkov (Nov 16-Dec 1), who makes his LAO debut, and by Joshua Wheeker (Dec 12-15), an alumnus of LAO's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program.

The cast includes three other alumni of that program in leading roles: soprano So Young Park as the Queen of the Night, baritone Theo Hoffman as Papageno and tenor Frederick Ballentine as Monostatos.

Superstar Italian bass Ildebrando D'Arcangelo appears as Sarastro, his fifth role with the company.

The Magic Flute will be conducted by Music Director James Conlon (November 16-23) and by Resident Conductor Grant Gershon (December 1-15). The production, originally created by Suzanne Andrade and Barrie Kosky, features animation designed by Paul Barritt, and will be staged by director Tobias Ribitzki. The scenery and costumes are designed by Esther Bialas.

Tickets are on sale now. Tickets begin at $19 and can be purchased online at LAOpera.org, by phone at 213.972.8001, or in person at the LA Opera box office at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (135 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90012). For disability access, call 213.972.0777 or email LAOpera@LAOpera.org.

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