La Scala season to kick off with Mozart's 'Magic Flute'

(ANSA) - Milan, August 18 - While the La Scala orchestra, choir and ballet troupe are on tour in Japan, China and Russia, the Milan opera house will be reopening after the summer break on September 2 with Mozart's 'The Magic Flute'. The opera has been curated by director Peter Stein, who also led a project with students from the academy. The aim is to bring in a similar project every year with a famous director - Stein directed Zubin Mehta's 'Aida' last year as well - and an equally well-known conductor. In this case there will be the Hungarian Adam Fischer, who founded the Austro-Hungarian orchestra Haydn. "The challenge is to teach singers to recite prose", the director said, since 'The Magic Flute' is not a melodrama and "at least 50% of the opera is spoken". The complete cast does not yet appear on the theater website. However, Pamina will be played by the Egyptian Fatma Said, the first Egyptian to win a scholarship to the academy and whose previous performances at La Scala include Cinderella and Co2, a new opera by Giorgio Battistelli. In addition to the academy's soloists and musicians, students attending classes in stage and costume design and ones in photography contributed to this opera, which will be on stage until September 26.