Noted composer leads Cinnabar’s ‘The Magic Flute,’ opening Friday

Mary Chun is at the helm of the hallucinogenic 1791 opera that blends a bit of psychedelic Beatlemania into Mozart’s already trippy storytelling.|

In Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” a prince embarks on a wild adventure through mysterious and magical realms.

Musical director Mary Chun knows what a little that prince felt like. After spending several weeks working on a number of musical projects in Beijing, China, the award-winning conductor finally returned to the Bay Area - where she immediately stepped into work as musical director of Cinnabar Theater’s own upcoming production of Mozart’s enduring magical mystery tour, which opens June 10.

“It’s true - I went right into ‘The Magic Flute’ rehearsals, the same day I returned from China,” laughed Chun, who’s served as musical director in more than a dozen shows at Cinnabar during the last several years. “I was pretty exhausted, and jetlagged, and it all seemed like a dream, but I was happy to plunge back into ‘The Magic Flute.’ It’s such a great piece.”

While in China, Chun was an integral part of a number of historic musical creations. Included in those projects was directing the music for the first-ever Mandarin translation of “Man of La Mancha,” which opened in Beijing on May 20, and preparing a brand-new cast and band for a national China touring production of “Avenue Q,” a sensational puppet-powered “Sesame Street” spoof that Chun says is “hugely popular” in China.

Chun, who is also the principal conductor of the San Francisco-based music ensemble “Earplay,” says she’s happy to back in the Bay Area, and thrilled to be working with Elly Lichenstein again on an opera as iconic as “The Magic Flute.” Directed by Lichenstein, who serves as Cinnabar’s artistic director, Cinnabar’s new staging of the hallucinogenic 1791 opera blends a bit of psychedelic Beatlemania into Mozart’s already trippy storytelling.

“It’s a little like being on a trip,” she said. “Things come flying at you, and you might like some of them, but others are a little puzzling. It’s really fun, and I think this version is going to be special.”

Though Chun has done scenes from “The Magic Flute” before, this will be the first time she’s directed the orchestra of a full production.

“This was Mozart’s last opera,” Chun said. “It was completed just a few months before his death, and it became one of his most popular works. Unfortunately, he didn’t get to enjoy ‘The Magic Flute’s’ success. This opera has great, classic music that crosses all emotions. There’s going to be high art music, popular folk music elements, some wonderful, pompous ceremonial music - and a story that’s going to traverse the whole fairytale gamut.”

The 1960s era fashions and visuals are a perfect match with the story of “The Magic Flute,” Chun said.

“It’s the journey of this young prince, with a damsel in distress,” she said. “Together, they go through a rite of passage, with dark and evil forces moving against the light and the good. It’s a bit like ‘Star Wars,’ too, if ‘Star Wars’ had been done by Mozart. It’s really very phantasmagoric.”

Though the original was written in German, Cinnabar will be presenting an English translation of the opera. Chun admitted that some purists dismiss the practice of translating classic operas, but she believes Mozart wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“Mozart himself was not opposed to having translations of his text,” she said. “Through the ages, many opera composers allowed their works to be translated. It was very common in Europe, in the 19th century, for different companies to do operas in their own language.”

Chun mentions a tour she participated in a few years back, through Eastern Europe.

“I took Biset’s ‘Carmen’ on tour through Germany and Austria, and we did it in French, but with Polish and Slovakian singers,” she recalled, “and we all talked about how we’d all done various versions of it, in different languages.”

Cinnabar, which presents one opera each year, has been committed to performing the classics in English. According to Chun, it’s part of the company’s mission to spread the appreciation of one of the world’s greatest art forms.

“It’s so much more rewarding as an audience member - and also as a musician - to be able to directly convey the feelings and emotions and passions of the piece through language that is understood by everyone involved,” she said. “Especially when the language is as much fun as it is in ‘The Magic Flute.’?”

(Contact Templeton at argus@arguscourier.com)

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