Die Zauberflöte represents the intricate journey of our existence in the form of a great liturgy of human life and it conveys an extraordinary message of joy and sadness, always illuminated by hope. It is the trustful expectation that humankind may accomplish an immense endeavour to reunite within itself that which is divided in nature. However, overcoming the trials of initiation and defeating death is an extremely arduous task, and determination and goodwill are not enough. Conquering these dark powers calls for exceptional, superhuman means and, as we learn from ancient mythology, extreme magical power. Mozart and Schikaneder found this in music!

Thanks to music and to its supreme qualities and divine harmony, a dual, divided totality is reconverted into balanced unity, in a perfect reconstruction of all that was contradictory.

I am grateful to the Teatro Regio di Torino for inviting me back again to work with them. I have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to work on this marvellous, mystical work, which sets my musician’s strings vibrating and stimulates my passion for studying history, religion and esotericism. I consider it a great privilege to be able to carry out an in-depth exploration of the score and the libretto, with their nebulous symbolic references and hidden meanings, especially in Turin, a “magical” city par excellence.A production of Die Zauberflöte improves those who work on it because it projects you beyond mere musical performance which, here, is not the ultimate end of the journey. I think that Mozart knew this well and that this was his precise intention. I am perfectly at one with this highly successful production by Barrie Kosky and Suzanne Andrade, which has already enchanted audiences all over the world and has now been brought for the first time to Turin. The music’s magic is projected into an environment inspired by cartoons and the beauty of silent films, creating a poetic synergy that explains its enthusiastic reception by everyone working on the production and by the audience.

PRESS

Cover photo © Teatro Regio di Torino