Robert Carsen on his staging of »The Magic Flute« (11 min.)

Robert Carsen is one of the most successful opera directors of our time. Having already directed Mozart’s Zauberflöte in Aix-en-Provence, he again undertook a completely new production for Baden-Baden in 2013, as he explains in an interview with the Philharmoniker horn player Sarah Willis. He is fascinated by the numerous contrasts in Mozart’s opera which was premiered in the year of his death. For example, the Zauberflöte is loved for its light-heartedness, but on the other hand, it constantly addresses death and destruction. Who is good and who is evil seems clear at the beginning, until unforeseen turns plunge the hero Tamino – and with him the audience – into ever greater uncertainty. Carsen also explains why perhaps the most popular opera of the repertoire also tells of the transience of all experiences.