The Magic Flute

Harvard College Opera will be bringing Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) to the mainstage this February. Performances will take place on Jan. 31st, Feb. 1st, Feb. 2nd, Feb. 7th, Feb. 8th, and Feb. 9th at the Agassiz Theatre on the Harvard University campus (5 James Street, Cambridge, MA).  Tickets ($20.00; Students, Harvard ID: $10.00) may be purchased through the Harvard Box Office (1350 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA – boxoffice.harvard.edu – (617) 496-2222) and at the door pending availability. The production will be performed in German and feature English supertitles. A ticketed black-tie gala in the Horner Room of Agassiz Theater will follow the performance on Saturday, Feb. 8th. 2020 marks Harvard College Opera’s seventh year performing in the historic Agassiz Theater.

About the Opera – One of the most popular operas of all time, Mozart’s majestic, transcendental opera in two acts blends myth, magic, and a remarkable variety of wonderful music to deliver its future-facing, forward thinking, and life-affirming message: love conquers all.

About the Artists – Die Zauberflöte features an entirely undergraduate cast, production staff, and orchestra, featuring Jahnavi Rao (Pamina), Samuel Rosner (Tamino), Natalie Choo (The Queen of the Night), Luke Minton (Sarastro), Henrique Neves (Papageno), Alina Dong (Papagena), James Rose (Monostatos), Rebecca Stewart (First Lady), Isabella Kopits (Second Lady), Ruva Chigwedere (Third Lady), Sydney Penny (First Spirit), Kath Courtemanche (Second Spirit), Olympia Hatzilambrou (Third Spirit), Alexander Chen (Speaker of the Temple), Arhan Kumar (Armed Man), and Jasper Schoff (Armed Man).  The orchestra is led by concertmaster Bobae Johnson, and features flutist and Assistant Stage Director Jessica Shand.

Music Director/conductor Benjamin P. Wenzelberg, a US Presidential Scholar in the Arts, is proud to have conducted the Boston Pops, had one of his compositions performed by the Tonkünstler-Orchester at the Vienna Musikverein, and performed as a countertenor soloist with/at the Metropolitan Opera, NYC Opera, Atlanta Opera, NY Philharmonic, Shakespeare in the Park, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Carnegie Hall. He also looks forward to conducting performances of Sweeney Todd this Spring as the Assistant Music Director of Lowell House Opera. Stage Director Madeleine Snow has directed Cendrillon (2019), produced Die Fledermaus (2018), and performed as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro (2017) with HCO. She is the President of Harvard College Opera and the Harvard College Musical Theater Association, a 2019 Pechet Opera Fellow with the Lowell House Opera, and has worked with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the American Repertory Theater, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the Office for the Arts at Harvard.

The Magic Flute is stage managed by Ava Hampton and produced by Frances Choi, Jonathan Castillo, Yasmin Luthra, and Jarod Stone.  

Harvard College Opera (HCO), formerly the Dunster House Opera Society, was founded in 1992 by Dunster House students as the premier undergraduate opera company dedicated to making opera more accessible to the greater Harvard community. HCO presents one full-length opera each February with a primarily undergraduate cast and production team. The rest of the HCO 2020 season includes free recitals and masterclasses featuring HCO artists, pop-up performances across campus and in local schools, and a performance of Wenzelberg’s original opera, The Sleeping Beauty, as part of Harvard’s ARTS FIRST festival on May 3, 2020 at the Smith Campus Center Commons. 

To learn more about Harvard College Opera, visit its website (harvardcollegeopera.com) and follow it on Instagram (@harvardcollegeopera) and Facebook (facebook.com/HarvardCollegeOpera/).