In Sunday’s (3/30) Boston Globe (subscription required), James H. Burnett III writes about the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s recent performances of a new abridged version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute at Symphony Hall, together with the Boston Symphony Youth Orchestra. “ ‘We’ve never done an opera for children before now,’ said Tony Fogg, the BSO’s artistic administrator.” Through the BSO’s partnership with BSYO, “Members of the BSO mentor the young musicians and the orchestras deliver periodic joint performances aimed at community and youth outreach.… The 75-minute long BSO-BYSO adaptation, written for audiences age 6 and up … has a narrator, played by Bill Barclay, who adapted the script exclusively for BSO-BYSO.… Barclay, a composer, actor, director, and teacher from Weston, is director of music at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London.… ‘I rewrote it, and I set it in 1791 when Mozart was alive,’ Barclay says…. The BSO is no stranger to young musicians or music for young people. The BSO kicked off its ‘Young People’s Concerts’ series in 1888… and, in the 2009-10 season, the relationship between the BSO and BYSO was formalized.”
Posted April 2, 2014
