The Hubbard Hall Opera Theater (HHOT) will present Mozart’s family favorite, The Magic Flute, in six performances from August 8 to 19 on Hubbard Hall’s mainstage at 25 East Main Street in Cambridge, NY. Performances, fully costumed and staged with a 19-piece orchestra, will be sung in German with supertitles and spoken in English.
Directed by Paul Houghtaling, a Schenectady native now teaching, directing and singing across the country, and conducted by Kelly Crandell, back with HHOT by popular demand, the curtain will go up August 8 (pay-what-you-will), 10, 11 and 16 at 8 pm and August 18 and 19 at 2 pm. Tickets are $30, $25 for members and $20 for students, and may be obtained at www.hubbardhall.org or by calling the box office at 518-677-2495. Ticket discounts are available for groups of 10 or more.
On Sunday, August 19, preceding the matinee performance, a Viennese brunch will be served at 11:30 am. Tickets cost $35 per person and may be reserved by calling 518-677-2495. In addition, the Cambridge Village Store will serve complimentary champagne with any purchase prior to each performance with all proceeds to benefit Hubbard Hall.
HHOT Artistic Director Alix Jones calls The Magic Flute “a classic operatic fantasy” and “a perfect choice for introducing children to opera.” “Mozart wrote it for the masses just before he died; there’s spoken dialogue, comedy, battles between good and evil and wonderful music. It’s filled with fairy tale characters who don’t seem to know exactly who they are, where they’re going or what they’re going to do when they get there, including a couple who fall madly in love before they’ve even met. The whole affair seems crazy, confusing, haphazard and often just downright silly. In that respect, it’s a lot like life, and maybe that’s why it’s been one of Mozart’s most popular and beloved works.”
Tenor Brian J. Kuhl, hailing from a bustling career in the Midwest, leads the cast as Tamino. Andrew Pardini, from the University of Maryland Opera Studio, offers audiences a warm comic baritone in an up-and-coming voice not to be missed. Mary Thorne, a veteran of the New York City opera scene, makes her HHOT debut as Pamina, alongside Brooke Schooley, who has been hailed as the Queen of the Night with a “marvelous soaring voice, florid runs and wonderful acting.” Susan Wheeler, who has sung at Carnegie Hall, The Wolf Trap Center and the Kennedy Center, joins HHOT as First Lady alongside the young Evelyn Rossow and international artist Amber Smoke from Germany, who has been praised for her “rich and mellow voice.”
For more information, visit www.hubbardhall.org.