PORT HADLOCK — The Jefferson County Library will host a preview by the Seattle Opera performing “The Magic Flute” on Wednesday.
The free preview will be at 6:30 p.m. at the library at 620 Cedar Ave.
“The Magic Flute” will be performed in Seattle from May 6-21.
This opera preview features professional singers and an accompanist in an hourlong presentation that takes the audience on a journey through the story and music of the upcoming mainstage opera.
The story of the opera is set in a land where fairy tales take place. A dragon is chasing young Prince Tamino. Three women kill the monster, then show the prince a picture of Pamina, the Queen of the Night’s daughter.
He falls madly in love, and the Queen asks him to rescue Pamina, who has been kidnapped by the wicked Sarastro.
The bird catcher Papageno is enlisted as Tamino’s sidekick. Tamino is entrusted with a magic flute and Papageno with a set of magic bells.
The two make it to Sarastro’s citadel, where Papageno protects Pamina from Monostatos, an amorous guard, while a wise priest explains to Tamino that the Queen is really the evil one: Sarastro kidnapped Pamina to rescue her from her mother’s evil influence.
Tamino and Pamina undertake a series of tests and trials that will grant them entrance to Sarastro’s community. Monostatos, too, switches sides when the Queen of the Night offers him Pamina in exchange for betraying Sarastro. And Papageno fails all Sarastro’s tests but runs off with the girl of his dreams.
For more information, see www.jclibrary.info or call 360-385-6455.
For more on the Seattle Opera performance, see www.seattleopera.org.
