Pacific Opera joins forces with the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra for an abbreviated presentation of Mozart’s final opera, The Magic Flute.

This pocket-sized version of Mozart’s Singspiel lasting nearly 90 minutes, is produced in association with the Australia China Institute for Arts and Culture at Western Sydney University and is part of Willoughby City Council’s Year of the Tiger Festival. It is sung in German with English and traditional Chinese scene descriptions. The good folk of Chatswood are out in force, the streets are festooned with red decorations and tiger blow-ups. Negotiating the break-dancing competition in the forecourt of the venue, I arrive at the considerably more serene setting of Mozart’s allegorical Masonic tale.

Ayako Ohtake as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute for Pacific Opera and Willoughby Symphony Orchestra. Image © Robert Catto.

The Magic Flute is many things, and many opposites. With libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder (who debuted the role of Papageno), it is a piece of the Enlightenment, complex but light-hearted, knock-about yet journeying into self-discovery, magical yet earthly, spiritual and lusty. Its music contains the Baroque fury of Der Hölle Rache, the heroic Classical sentiments...