Royal Opera House Muscat presentation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute to enthral Omani children

Muscat: The Royal Opera House of Muscat’s (ROHM’s) new production of Mozart’s well-loved masterpiece, The Magic Flute, gives children an exciting interactive experience that is sure to enthral them with the magic world of opera, and maybe even mark the start of a lifetime love affair with this wonderful performing art.
Created in collaboration with Italy’s Teatro Sociale di Como, ROHM’s The Magic Flute for children premiered in April 2015 in a highly successful ROHM Education and Outreach initiative involving hundreds of students aged six to 12, along with their teachers, from several schools, both government and private. The ROHM production brings Mozart’s composition to the present era, directly engaging students with its characters and action.
Sitting in the audience and armed with clever props, rows of Omani students have a wonderful time waving their props to accentuate the action and singing on cue like a chorus—in Arabic, English and Italian. As magic and reality intertwine, to the great delight of the audience, bonds develop between the professional opera singers on stage and young school students in their seats. Just like Tamino, The Magic Flute’s handsome prince, who is lost in a distant land, and pursued by a dangerous serpent, the students go through a process of personal development and enlightenment through the magic of music.
In 1791, the last year of his life, Mozart composed The Magic Flute as an allegory of enlightenment in which the Queen of the Night represents dangerous absolutism, while Sarastro symbolises the enlightened sovereign, who rules according to principles based on reason, wisdom, and nature.
The story portrays mankind progressing from chaos symbolised by the serpent through religious superstition to rationalistic enlightenment by means of trial and error. Tamino, the prince represents trial, while Papageno, the bird-catcher symbolises error. As Tamino sets out to rescue the beautiful Pamina with whom he has fallen in love at first sight after seeing her portrait, he is given a magic flute which has the power to change sorrow into joy. The ultimate aim of the drama is to make "the Earth a heavenly kingdom, and mortals like the gods."
While learning about opera and music through wonderful interactive entertainment, children also come to understand something about the nature of human relations in the context of good and evil.
Performances will take place at 4.30 pm on Tuesday, February 22 and Thursday on March 23. For further information and booking, consult ROHM’s website: www.rohmuscat.org.om