Opera ISU to present “A (mini) Magic Flute” on Nov. 3

Opera Idaho State University presents “A (mini) Magic Flute” Saturday, Nov. 3, at 2 p.m. in Goranson Hall, located in the Fine Arts Building on the ISU campus. The event is free to the public.

Open to children of all ages, this hour-long, condensed version of W. A. Mozart’s fairy-tale opera “Die Zauberfloete” features all the colorful original characters: Tamino, a young prince; Pamina, the princess he must rescue; the excitingly wicked Queen of the Night and her three scheming ladies; the wise wizard Sarastro; and the comical bird couple Papageno and Papagena.

“‘A (mini) Magic Flute’ broadens the program’s 13-year tradition of outreach to young audiences,” said professor Kathleen Lane, general director of Opera ISU. “We have never prepared an opera especially for children, and the Saturday performance in Goranson Hall is just one of seven that will be presented throughout the area at various grade schools.”

 Future teachers among the cast took special interest in performing a children’s opera.

“Since many of our students are future music educators, this has been a great project,” said Lane. “We had a great interest from the music students, and we were able to launch two entirely different casts.”

Collaborating with Lane in stage direction is Diana Livingston Friedley, D.M.A., ISU associate professor of voice and founder of ISU’s Summer Youth Opera Program. Geoffrey Friedley, assistant lecturer of music at ISU, will play the part of Tamino in one cast. Costumes are designed by associate professor of theater, Tara Marshall Johnson.

Even in English translation, Mozart’s opera can run close to three hours in length. In 2000 Donald Pippin of Pocket Opera Company of New York adapted the most accessible elements of the opera into “A (mini) Magic Flute.”