Birds of a Feather: A Magic Flute Sequel

carthage music department presents

Birds of a Feather: A Magic Flute Sequel An Opera Workshop Presentation Gregory Berg, director

Saturday, April 30, 2022 | 3 p.m.

Sunday, May 1, 2022 | 6 p.m.

Recital Hall

program PART ONE – MOZART OPERATIC EXCERPTS “Un aura amorosa” from Cosi fan tutte Christopher Glade, tenor “But why? Why make me suffer?” from the The Marriage of Figaro Faith Albright, mezzo soprano; Adam Blackwood, baritone “Hai gia vinta la causa? Vedro mentrio sospiro” from Le Nozze de Figaro Nathan Koehlert, baritone “A Love Song” from The Marriage of Figaro Essence Christian, soprano Alecia Corey, soprano “Batti, Batti” from Don Giovanni Katrina Seabright, soprano Christopher Glade, tenor “Dalla sua pace” “Il mio tesoro” from Don Giovanni Bennett Shebesta, tenor

PART TWO – BIRDS OF A FEATHER: A MAGIC FLUTE SEQUEL

by Gregory Berg This production is largely based on the original staging directed by Allison Hull.

This opera was originally written for the opera workshop for J-Term 2020. It was performed during the summer of 2021 by the fellows of the Kenosha Opera Festival. The work has been expanded for this production.

Cast Speaker 1: Essence Christian Speaker 2: Alecia Corey Speaker 3: Nathan Koehlert Papageno: Adam Blackwood Papagena: Katrina Seabright Daughter #15: Faith Albright Son #15: Christopher Glade

program notes When I first began thinking about the possibility of composing a sequel to Mozart’s The Magic Flute, I blithely assumed that I was doing something that nobody had ever thought to do before. I was wrong! There is actually a surprisingly long and extensive history of such sequels, with the first of them appearing as early as 1798, less than a decade after Mozart’s death.

My sequel picks up on the story of the energetic bird catcher Papageno and his wife Papagena, who find each other at the very end of Mozart’s original opera. My work begins with an abridged arrangement of their humorous love duet “Pa….Pa… Pa…” in which they can barely stammer out each other’s name, so dumbstruck are they at the sight of the other, before singing joyously about all of the children that they will have. (“First, we will have a Papageno.” “Then, we will have a Papagena.” Etc.) Needless to say, they live in a time and place where gender is understood as a strict binary, where “girls are pink and boys are blue.”

From there, my sequel jumps ahead a number of years into the future, when their youngest two children (their 15th daughter and 15th son) are in their teens and beginning to bridle at their parents’ expectations about what boys and girls should be and do. In addition to the two parents, there is a somewhat mysterious character whom I am calling The Speaker. (There is a similarly-named character in Mozart’s original opera.) The Speaker is not seen by the other characters, but is able to observe all that is going on – narrates the action – and intervenes when necessary. (In this latest production of the opera, I have split the role of the Speaker between three singers – and written additional music for them.) It is the Speakers who help the son and daughter to realize who they really are – and also helps the parents achieve greater understanding about their children and how to make them happy.

I wrote both the libretto (the words) to the opera as well as the score (the music) – except for six passages in which I quote famous melodic themes from Mozart’s original opera. The opera was composed for the J-Term Opera Workshop production in 2020- for Cory Pollard, Katrina Seabright, Bennett Shebesta, Faith Albright, and KD Daly. It was slightly revised for a production by the Kenosha Opera Festival in the summer of 2021, and further revised for this production.

This opera is not intended to be a thorough or sophisticated examination of the complicated issues tied up in Gender Identification. Rather, I have sought to create a gentle and humorous story that also carries and important and poignant message about the inadvertent hurt that we cause in others when we insist that they live according to our expectations of who they should be rather than being true to who they were meant to be.

Birds of a Feather: A Magic Flute Sequel is lovingly dedicated to the memory of Ray Watson, a talented music theater major at Carthage who was tragically killed in an accident in December of 2019. Those of us who were blessed to know and work with Ray will always remember his many talents as well as the spirit of joy with which he embraced a new understanding of who he was meant to be in the world.

–GB

upcoming events Something Rotten April 29-30 & May 5-7 • 7:30 p.m.

April 30 • 3p.m.

Wartburg Theatre • Tickets required Student Recital: Maile Riedel & Gabby Booth Saturday, May 7 • NOON Recital Hall • Tickets required Spring Band Concert Sunday, May 8 • 2 p.m.

A. F. Siebert Chapel • Tickets required Student Recital: Lianna Pfister Monday, May 9 • 7:30 p.m.

Recital Hall • Tickets required Honors Recital Tuesday, May 10 • 7:30 p.m.

A. F. Siebert Chapel • Tickets required Music Theatre Workshop: “Life is a Highway” Wednesday, May 11 • 7:30 p.m.

Campbell Student Union Auditorium • Tickets required Percussion Concert Thursday, May 12 • 7:30 p.m.

A. F. Siebert Chapel • Tickets required

Fine Arts at Carthage acknowledges that the land on which our building stands is part of the traditional Potawatomi, Sioux, Peoria, Kickapoo, and Miami peoples past, present, and future. These homelands reside along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes. We honor with gratitude the land itself, and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations. Many Indigenous peoples thrive in this place—alive and strong, and this calls us to commit to continuing to learn how to be better stewards of the land we inhabit as well.

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