Feb. 25 — UCSB To Present ‘The Magic Flute’ Opera

SANTA BARBARA — The University of Santa Barbara’s Department of Music and Department of Theater and Dance will present a whimsical co-production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute, with singers and instrumentalists from UCSB’s Opera Theatre Program, dancers and actors from the Department of Theater and Dance, and puppets of all shapes and sizes. The abridged 75-minute opera – presented with no intermission and sung in English – will have three public performances, February 25 and February 26 at 7:30 pm, and a matinee performance on February 27 at 2 pm. Performances will be held at the Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall on the UCSB campus. Soprano and UCSB Professor, Dr. Isabel Bayrakdarian will provide Music and Stage Direction, and UCSB lecturer and interdisciplinary artist/dancer, Christina McCarthy will provide Choreography and Puppet Design.

About The Magic Flute
This new abridged version of The Magic Flute is arranged by Peter Tiefenbach for 9 instrumentalists and 7 singers, all of whom are double cast. The English-language translation of this non-traditional and family friendly opera is by Brent Krysa. Stage and Music Director, Dr. Bayrakdarian says about the production, “All the singers, chamber players, dancers, and puppeteers will perform from the stage, and each will tell the story using their own medium–their instruments, their voices, their bodies.” 

About The Creative Team
Dr. Isabel Bayrakdarian…..Stage and Music Direction
Christina McCarthy…..Choreography, Puppet Staging, Puppet/Mask/Costume Design

Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, is a Professor of Voice in the UCSB Department of Music. She serves as the Area Head of the Voice Program and is the Director of Opera Theatre and Opera Outreach Program. Dr. Bayrakdarian has sung with all the major opera houses and premiere orchestras worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, Salzburg Festival, Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago, under the batons of eminent conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, James Conlon, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Her diverse repertoire ranges from the Baroque to the contemporary, including world premieres by William Bolcom and Jake Heggie, with Mozart being a specialty. She has recorded several critically acclaimed albums, including as the featured vocalist on the Grammy-award winning soundtrack of the blockbuster film The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers, and on the soundtrack of Atom Egoyan’s Ararat. She is the winner of four consecutive Juno Awards for Best Classical Album and has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal, the George London Foundation Award, Canada Council’s Virginia Parker Prize, and the Republic of Armenia’s highest cultural award. Dr. Bayrakdarian appeared in the BBC-produced short film HOLOCAUST – a Music Memorial Film from Auschwitz, and in her Gemini nominated film Long Journey Home, documenting her first visit to her ancestral homeland Armenia.

Christina McCarthy is a lecturer in the UCSB Department of Theater and Dance, a multi-disciplinary artist in dance, aerial circus arts, theater, puppetry, film, and visual art. McCarthy teaches contemporary dance technique, dance on film, choreography, solo performance generation, puppet making, and aerial dance. Her movement training background includes ballet with Lupe Serrano, Finis Jhung, Bob and Carol Hanlin, and Valerie Huston, modern training with Tonia Shimin, Alice Condodina, Nolan Dennet, and Christopher Pilafian, and aerial dance training with Ninette Paloma and Autumn Phillips. She danced with Nina Wiener Dance Company and was both a dancer and Assistant Director to Santa Barbara Dance Theater, as well as Vice-Chair of the Department of Theater and Dance. McCarthy has made site specific work for the new UCSB Library and for Arts Walk 2019. She has directed departmental dance concerts and choreographed multiple musical theater productions in the Santa Barbara community. Her puppet work has appeared in numerous films, and she was the featured artist at the Santa Barbara International Puppet Palooza Festival in 2018.

For Calendar Editors

  • WHAT: A whimsical abridged opera production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute
  • WHEN: February 25 at 7:30 pm, February 26 at 7:30 pm, February 27 at 2 pm
  • WHERE: Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall on the UCSB Campus

About the Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall
The Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall is located on the UCSB Campus. Masks and proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test are required for patrons over 12 years of age, as well as a valid photo ID. See the COVID-19 Event Information page for more details.

About Support for The Magic Flute

Thank you to our generous donors for their support to make this performance possible including the Julie Ladner Dance Scholarship Fund, the Jonathan Pevsner Performance Fund for Voice, Ruth and Rodney Punt, and the Carl Zytowski Endowed Fund for Opera.

Purchase Tickets: music.ucsb.edu/events/purchase-tickets

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