Mozart’s The Magic Flute (all acts)

The Kansai tour of the New National Theatre, Tokyo Opera for High School Students program started in 2008 and this year marks its thirteenth edition. The 2020 performances bring back the The Magic Flute, last seen in 2018. The opera is in the accessible form of a Singspiel, which mixes singing and spoken dialogue. Among its well-known numbers are “Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja” (The birdcatcher am I) and “Pa–, pa–, pa–,” while the aria by the Queen of the Night, “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” (Hell’s vengeance boils in my heart), is another of its many highlights that always delight audiences. Directed by William Kentridge, the production brims with his unique humanist philosophy, presenting numerous questions to audiences alongside its compelling might as visual art. Kentridge has many past connections with Kyoto, having previous held his first large-scale exhibition in Japan at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto and as a recipient of the Kyoto Prize, and this staging made a big impression locally when it was staged in 2018.