Mozart and a magical flute
For the first time in four years, Sergio Bernal, conductor of the USU Symphony Orchestra and Lynn Keisker, associate professor and director of the USU Opera Theater, have combined forces for the major production of Mozart’s “Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute)” They are also working with a guest stage manager Kim Mumford, who will be doubling as the Queen of the Night.
The project involves more than 100 students, and guest artists from the Utah Festival Opera Company putting in hundreds of hours of rehearsal in hopes of putting on four dazzling performances in the Kent Concert Hall.
“It’s quite a collaborative, big deal for all the undergraduates,” Keisker said. “They will only have one opportunity to do a full opera production once in their four years here, and this is it. It’s very special and unique.”
Keisker also said the choice of “The Magic Flute” is interesting for the students and the community because of it’s messages of redemption and struggle in life.
Written in 1971, this was Mozart’s last opera, written to save a friend’s theater from closing. The story begins with Prince Tamino, who stumbles into the land of the Queen of Night, where he is attacked by a giant serpent. He is rescued by three ladies, who show him a picture of the beautiful Pamina, and Tamino instantly falls in love. Protected by a golden flute, he sets off with the bird-catcher Papageno to rescue Pamina from the clutches of the sorcerer Sarastro. But, the sorcerer is actually a wise priest, who tells Pamina that though she and Tamino are destined for each other, they must first prove their love.
Bernal said, “It was written long ago, But the moral messages were relevant in Mozart’s time, and are still relevant today.”
Morgan Hall, a senior in vocal performance playing the priest, said there is a lot of variety in the emotions the opera provides to the audience. Love, solemnity, comedy, and spirituality are all united in one work.
Kacee Cambron, a junior in vocal performance, plays Pamina. She said the whole opera is in German, but the department has translated each line and will set the translations up on the super-title screen so the audience can understand what the players are saying.
“I think it’s a very inspiring story,” she said, “even though it’s not as plot-driven as others. The real purpose is that it’s teaching a moral, which is to say that light will always conquer darkness. The comic Papageno, and the serious Tamino are both tested in their resolve to be good people, and they are rewarded with love.”
Hall said one of the most challenging things about performing opera is that even though the whole thing is in German, you have to know what you’re saying at all times, and what the other characters are saying, so you can respond correctly.
“It was really helpful for me to know what I was singing about the whole way through,” Cambron said, “and to understand who my character is and what she’s going through. From day one, my number one priority was to make sure that I wasn’t just singing random German words without meaning.”
Anthony Eversole is finishing his student teaching in Cache Valley and has his undergraduate degree in vocal performance from Utah State. He is playing the role of Papageno.
“It was kind of hard to decide where my character is coming from. Really, he’s a bird-catcher that dresses up like a bird, which is a little weird. It’s intimidating to perform arias that are well known because the community already knows them so well, even if they don’t know they do,” he said.
Eversole said the process of learning a part in German is very intricate, and carefully done. The leads translate the words from German to English, and memorize the English translations. Then they add the German and speak the text with Mozart’s rhythm. Afterwards, they sing the notes without the text, and then finally add the perfected German text to the notes.
Jordon LeBaron, a senior majoring in vocal performance and business and playing the part of Sarastro, said, “The hardest part of any opera is being able to display the emotion of the piece, and focusing on portraying the character, but keeping that emotion married with the vocal technique required to sing these parts, especially in a huge venue like Kent.”
He said individual rehearsal is huge for the leads. They may expect to get a lot of one-on-one coaching, but they are also expected to translate and do all memorization on their own. The members of the chorus also put in many hours of preparation for the performance. Kelsie Packham, a junior in vocal performance, said the chorus was required to attend seven hours of rehearsal every day the week before the performances.
Eversole said there is bias against opera, and towards any classical music, that it is boring or out of date.
He said, “Society has become so fast-paced. We like going to a movie more than sitting back and meditating with the music. But this is what people did 300 years ago, and people would like it if they just let the music enrich them.”
LeBaron said, “People go to watch operas for the wrong reasons, to be entertained or thrilled, but to appreciate the sound a human body can make and the skill that requires is a huge reason to attend an opera, and appreciate it. It’s just like going to a sports event and witnessing what the athletes can do with their bodies, that’s something that excites people.”
Keisker said that the greatest reward for all the hard work is having the opportunity to be the medium for an audience to receive joy and inspiration after all the puzzle pieces come together in the performance to create a beautiful picture.
The opera runs April 7-10 in the Kent Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m.
– kmarshall222@gmail.com