Julia Jones conducts The Royal Opera’s spell-binding production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute with a cast including Roderick Williams as Papageno.
Mozart's The Magic Flute - Die Zauberflöte
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Opera

london philharmonic orchestra
Karina Canellakis leads the London Philharmonic Orchestra through three faces of Mozart in a single evening: theatrical fury, Masonic solemnity, and regal concerto brilliance. Restless strings surge across the overture to ""Idomeneo, re di Creta,"" K.366, dark brass pressing like a storm-tossed sea; two tolling wind notes open ""Maurerische Trauermusik,"" K.477, before a plainchant chorale rises on oboes and clarinet. Paul Lewis joins for ""Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major,"" K.503, his Alfred Brendel cadenza threading delicacy through martial trumpets and closely worked counterpoint. The piano leads it home. Canellakis keeps textures lean and responsive. With Lewis, grandeur remains human, leaving Mozart's collision of ritual, drama, and public ceremony unresolved yet vividly alive.