Magic Flute

The noble youth sees a portrait of the captive princess, falls in love at first sight, and -- armed by her mother, the Queen of the Night, with a magic flute and with the companionship of a good-natured, cowardly lion sort of chap named Papageno -- journeys off to rescue her from an evil sorcerer.In most fairy tales, things would have proceeded predictably. But Mozart's final opera, "The Magic Flute," which will be presented by the Peabody Opera Theatre for four performances beginning Thursday, is not a just-so story.

Last weekend's concerts by the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra marked Gisele Ben-Dor's initial foray into the choral repertoire since her ascension to the ASO post last season.Mozart's valedictory work, the problematic Requiem, was performed, along with arias from two of his greatest operas, "The Marriage of Figaro" and "The Magic Flute." Ernest Green's Annapolis Chorale was on hand to collaborate in the Requiem.Rounding out the program was "Musica Celestis," a contemporary work for string orchestra by Aaron Kernis.

It was fitting that the Baltimore Opera chose Mozart's "The Magic Flute" to close its 1991-1992 season. This has been a magical year for opera in Baltimore. Only 12 months ago, the company struggled to balance its books by canceling performances and trimming productions. Yet when the final curtain fell this season, the company could look back on a remarkable renaissance: Opera in Baltimore has turned out to be a resounding artistic as well as financial success.The company presented three productions this season: Verdi's "Don Carlos," Donizetti's "Daughter of the Regiment" and "The Magic Flute."

The gods Isis and Osiris must be have been looking down with favor at the Baltimore Opera Company. Those two Egyptian deities are the presiding spirits of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" and they may have transformed on Saturday evening what was -- on the surface of things -- not promising into what was charming.This threatened to be a hodgepodge of a production. The scenery -- full of great stalagmites and stalactites -- was from a production in Portland, Ore. The costumes -- straightforward and elegant Age of Reason powdered wigs and doublets and hose -- were from a Jean Pierre Ponnelle production in Salzburg.

The gods Isis and Osiris must be have been looking down with favor at the Baltimore Opera Company. Those two Egyptian deities are the presiding spirits of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" and they may have transformed on Saturday evening what was -- on the surface of things -- not promising into what was charming.This threatened to be a hodgepodge of a production. The scenery -- full of great stalagmites and stalactites -- was from a production in Portland, Ore. The costumes -- straightforward and elegant Age of Reason powdered wigs and doublets and hose -- were from a Jean Pierre Ponnelle production in Salzburg.

The upcoming Baltimore Opera Company production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" will be filled with images of birth and of dreams.The theme of the opera is the triumph of light over the powers of darkness, says Bijan Ahsef-Jah, who has staged this production. He adds that he takes that basic theme to mean the opera is about "being born" or about "waking from the dream state.""Mozart was, of course, a Freemason, and the Masons believe that you are not really born until you've seen the light," says the Iranian-born director, who startlingly resembles in looks, voice and manner the wide-eyed, off-the-wall, insouciantly insinuating character Latka Gravas that Andy Kaufman created on TV's "Taxi."

The upcoming Baltimore Opera Company production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" will be filled with images of birth and of dreams.The theme of the opera is the triumph of light over the powers of darkness, says Bijan Ahsef-Jah, who has staged this production. He adds that he takes that basic theme to mean the opera is about "being born" or about "waking from the dream state.""Mozart was, of course, a Freemason, and the Masons believe that you are not really born until you've seen the light," says the Iranian-born director, who startlingly resembles in looks, voice and manner the wide-eyed, off-the-wall, insouciantly insinuating character Latka Gravas that Andy Kaufman created on TV's "Taxi."

For many listeners, the existence of Haydn's Masses is their only consolation for the unhappy circumstance of Mozart's early death. The younger composer did not live long enough to produce any operas after "The Magic Flute," but such episodes as the tenor and baritone duet in the "Et Incarnatus Est" of Haydn's "Creation Mass" approach the Mozartean empyrean.Those listeners were made both happy and sad yesterday by the fact that the Baltimore Choral Arts Society and its music director, Tom Hall, performed the "Creation Mass" -- which is not to be confused with the composer's better known, English-style oratorio, "The Creation" -- in Kraushaar Auditorium on the Goucher College campus.

Less than a year after he warned that the Baltimore Opera Company was facing bankruptcy, BOC chairman Lowell Bowen has announced that "the opera has risen from the dead."Bowen said yesterday that unaudited financial statements for the fiscal year that ended June 30 show an operating surplus of $41,000, compared to a loss of $476,000 at this time last year. "That we survived is amazing," Bowen said. "That we finished in the black is miraculous."The company survived for two reasons. Last December it initiated a successful $1 million "Save the Opera" campaign that erased the company's long-term debt and provided enough cash flow to meet costs.

Mozart will not get a more beautiful tribute this year than the one tonight at 8 on Channels 22 and 67 when PBS broadcasts the current Metropolitan Opera production of the composer's "The Magic Flute" ("Die Zauberflote").The most celebrated thing about this production -- which was taped last winter -- are the sets and designs by the British-born, California-based painter, designer and photographer David Hockney. Anyone who wants to test his television's capacity for color reproduction must tune in. Hockney's brilliant reds, blues and yellows are used to give this production an Egyptian look for its Masonic symbolism.