Pittsburgh Opera is returning to the Benedum Center stage with a burst of fireworks, but not the kind the city's used to seeing after sports games and holidays.
To mark the end of its COVID-driven exile from Downtown stages, the company will stage Mozart's comic opera “The Magic Flute” Saturday through Nov. 14. One of the most famous moments in this piece is a notoriously difficult and fiery aria, sung by the Queen of the Night.
“This aria require enormous vocal control and the ability to amaze the audience with vocal pyrotechnics,” said Christopher Hahn, the opera's general director.
“The Magic Flute” follows a prince in a faraway land as he befriends a bird catcher and seeks truth and enlightenment in an allegorical exploration of Freemason initiation. Hahn said he purposely chose a familiar comic opera as opposed to a tragedy to keep the mood light and festive.
“We're functioning as trauma treatment for society as people ease back into their lives and attending events,” he said.
Plus, Mozart operas require a smaller chorus and orchestra than other operatic favorites. As fear of the coronavirus continues to linger in society, the fewer people concentrated in a small rehearsal space the better, he explained.
For many performers, this will be their first outing since the pandemic shut down performances in March of 2020. Soprano Kathryn Bowden, who will make her Pittsburgh Opera debut as the Queen of the Night, said this will be her first performance in almost exactly two years.
She has been performing that role with different companies for nearly 10 years now, she said.
“The Queen is a very cathartic to sing,” Bowden said. “If you're mad about anything you call that up and feel immediately better after singing through it.”
She also said that this production, directed by Metropolitan Opera staff director Dan Rigazzi, aimed to humanize the queen.
“We don't want her to come off as a Disney villain,” said Bowden, who said she uses a vocal steamer on performance days to keep her voice supple enough to hit the more difficult high pitches.
Also making his Pittsburgh debut is bass Tom McNichols in the role of Sarastro. Much of the rest of the cast will be made up of Pittsburgh Opera resident artists, or early career singers taking part in the opera's nationally recognized two-year residency program. Returning tenor David Portillo will star as Tamino, with resident artist alumnus Ben Taylor appearing as Papageno the bird catcher.
Pittsburgh Opera earned national recognition during the pandemic for continuing to perform with live audiences as long as local regulations permitted, masking and social distancing singers and listeners alike. Singers at the Benedum will mask until they appear onstage, when they will unmask. Audiences must follow the Cultural Trust's entry requirements, which includes proof of vaccination and masks.
“Many of us have learned to fly on planes with masks, so you might as well come fly with the opera,” Hahn said. “We're still in this together.”
Jeremy Reynolds: jreynolds@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1634; Twitter: @Reynolds_PG. Mr. Reynolds' work at the Post-Gazette is supported by a grant from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Getty Foundation and Rubin Institute.
First Published: November 2, 2021, 10:30 a.m.