27.01.2025

JULIAN PRÉGARDIEN in his debut at the Wiener Staatsoper as Tamino

The role of Tamino has played an important role in the operatic career of Julian Prégardien, with which he celebrated notable milestones including his debut at the Berlin State Opera in 2019, his US-operatic debut with the Cleveland Orchestra, and now in the current season at the Vienna State Opera, in a totally different new production directed by Barbora Horáková.

Having almost grown up with this role, Prégardien considers Tamino to be a companion of his. With every reprisal of the role he is able to bring a different portion of life experience and wisdom to his portrayal of the character, which perhaps even helps him to turn this naivety or innocence even more outwards.

In the director’s words, Horáková puts the success of Mozart’s arguably most well-known opera, down to its accessibility. The dialogues mean that it is not as hermetically sealed as other operas and so opens itself up to everyone. And everyone knows the melody of more than just one aria: you can sing all the numbers in The Magic Flute . So it sounds simple, but when you look into the score, you realize how incredibly constructed it is[…] That's the great thing: that this piece manages to make us rack our brains. And that in the end it is accessible to everyone and that everyone can really identify with it to some extent.

Discover more about his debut in the recent interview with the Vienna State Opera.

Cast:

Georg Zeppenfeld, Sarastro
Julian Prégardien, Tamino
Jochen Schmeckenbecher, Speaker
Serena Sáenz, Queen of the Night
Slávka Zámečníková, Pamina
Jenni Hietala, 1st lady
Alma Neuhaus, 2nd lady
Stephanie Maitland, 3rd lady
Ludwig Mittelhammer, Papageno
Ilia Staple, Papagena
Matthäus Schmidlechner, Monostatos

Bertrand de Billy, Musical direction
Barbora Horákova, stage direction
Falko Herold, stage & video
Eva Butzkies, costumes
Stefan Bolliger, lighting