Mozart: The Magic Flute (Großes Festspielhaus, Salzburg 2018, Directed by: Beyer)

Seldom has Mozart's The Magic Flute been staged with such color and ingenuity as in Lydia Steier's 2018 production at the Salzburg Festival. Featuring an outstanding cast including Matthias Goerne, Albina Shagimurotava and Chris-tiane Karg, Steier also came up with a special little extra and created a role for no one else but Klaus Maria Brandauer as a narrator who, during the performance, contextualizes and whimsically comments on the opera's opaque and Janus-faced libretto. Discussed quite controversially, this production was one of the most acclaimed new opera productions of the past year and one of the highlights of the Salzburg Festival. It goes without saying that Steier's production is an extravaganza par excellence, in which the sheer richness of the sets and costumes alone justifies its release on audiovisual media. The excellent Vienna Philharmonic were joined on this evening by Constantinos Carydis, an expert in 18th-century opera, who had the traditional Viennese orchestra play with as much freshness and pep as a specialist ensemble for historically informed performance.