ArtsEmerson Presents Isango Ensemble's "Mozart's Magic Flute - Opera With A Distinctly South African Flavor

 Paulene Malfane. as Queen of the Night
Isango Ensemble's "Mozart's Magic Flute"
Photo by Keith Pattison. 

In his Program Notes for Isango Ensemble's "Mozart's Magic Flute," ArtsEmerson Director of Artistic Programs, David Dower, recounts his experience of flying to Munich to check out an Isango performance.  Jet-lagged and a bit grumpy, he recalls saying to himself, "Why had I flown all this way to see a company from the townships around Cape Town perform Mozart's 'The Magic Flute' when I had seen this opera half a dozen times done by  'real' opera companies in 'real' opera houses?"
Fast forward to his reaction a few minutes into the performance: "Though I had come to my seat an informed theatregoer, I was now an ecstatic adventurer in the complex wilderness of an extreme, ebullient cultural mash up."

And such was the experience of hundreds of us gathered last evening in Emerson's Cutler Majestic Theatre. Expectation, ecstasy, exuberance, elation flowed in both directions from performers to audience and back again.  It was - well - a magical and unforgettable evening.

The story line of Mozart's iconic opera bears striking resemblance to an African folk tale about an enchanted flute.  That should not be so surprising, for many of our most cherished myths are shared by cultures widely divided in time and space, flowing from some primeval and ineffable common stream of universal truth.  So it is not too much of a stretch to conceive of an opera first performed in German in Vienna to be presented in English - with some Zulu throw-away lines - by South Africans in Boston.  And for the audience and performers to feel as if we are all part of the same family.  What a wonderful world we inhabit!

The familiar strains of Mozart's glorious music were played by an orchestra of marimbas, supplemented by African drums and strategically placed trumpet flourishes and a bird whistle.  The orchestra members, who rotate among the instruments and also double as singers and dancers, play without reference to written scores, having memorized the entire opera.  The ensemble of 28 individuals not only perform together around the world, but many of them grew up together and trained together in the Cape Town townships.

The voices are pure and powerful, filling the performance space without electronic assistance.  The solo voices could hold their own on opera stages from The Met to La Scala.  The ensemble singing is sublime.  The African drumming and dancing enhance Mozart's music and the traditional staging and infuse this production with a sense of vibrancy, wonder and pure joy that is infectious.

Mhlekazi Andy Mosiea as Tamino
Isango Ensemble's "Mozart's Magic Flute"
Photo by Keith Pattison

Mark Dornford-May, who directs this gifted ensemble, also adapted the show from the original. Pauline Malefane and Mandisi Dyantyis have arranged the music for the African instruments.   Ms. Malefane also sings the role of Queen of the Night with precision, passion and aplomb.  Mr. Dyantyis is a veritable human dynamo as conductor, marimbist and trumpeter extraordinaire.

Mandisi Dyantyis
Isango Ensemble's "Mozart's Magic Flute"
Photograph by Ruphin Coudyzer

For discerning lovers of innovative theater and world class music, it should become a habit to buy tickets to everything that ArtsEmerson books and brings to their Boston stages.  They have already scoured the earth and done the treasure hunting, booking only the shiniest nuggets from artistic gold mines in all of the far flung continents.

"The Magic Flute" will play through this weekend, with the final Boston performance on October 26.  Act now to book your tickets.

ArtsEmerson Website


ERIC ABRAHAM AND ARTSEMERSON
PRESENT AN ISANGO ENSEMBLE

 Mozart’s
The Magic Flute
(Impempe Yomlingo)

ADAPTED AND DIRECTED BY MARK DORNFORD-MAY

MUSIC ARRANGED BY PAULINE MALEFANE and MANDISI DYANTYIS

CHOREOGRAPHY LUNGELO NGAMLANA

COSTUMES LEIGH BISHOP

ORIGINAL LIGHTING MANNIE MANIM

PRODUCTION MANAGER JOHN PAGE

COMPANY MANAGER MARIS SHARP

STAGE MANAGEMENT SANDILE MGUGUNYEKA

STAGE MANAGEMENT VALENCIA MGUGUNYEKA

CAST 

NOLUTHANDO BOQWANA, MANDISI DYANTYIS, THOBILE DYASI, AYANDA ELEKI, 
ZAMILE GANTANA, NONTSUSA LOUW, SIFISO LUPUZI, PAULINE MALEFANE, 
BONGIWE MAPASSA, ZANELE MBATHA, SIYASANGA MBUYAZWE, 
SINETHEMBA MDENA, ZEBULON MMUSI, MHLEKAZI (WHAWHA) MOSIEA, 
ZOLEKA MPOTSHA, SIYANDA NCOBO, CIKIZWA NDAMASE, BUSISIWE NGEJANE, 
ZOLINA NGEJANE, SONWABO NTSHATA, TUKELA PEPETEKA, LUVO RASEMENI, 
MASAKANE SOTAYISI, AYANDA TIKOLO

Isango Ensemble special thanks to
South African Airways – Africa’s Most Awarded Airline
Tour Direction: Columbia Artists Management LLC – Tim Fox / Alison Ahart Williams
5 Columbus Circle @ 1790 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
www.cami.com

Major support for the 2014/15 ArtsEmerson Season has been generously provided by
Ted and Mary Wendell and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.