Die Zauberflote
A live broadcast of David McVicar 's sparkling new production for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. With sublime music and a storywhich is part drama, part comedy, and part pantomime, Mozart explores universal ideas of love, duty and freedom. Tamino endures great trials to win Pamina, while Papageno tries to avoid any effort at all to win Papagena. Meanwhile, the Queen of the Night and the high priest Sarastro are locked in a deadly duel for life itself. Presented by Stephanie Hughes.
Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra, conductor Colin Davis Act
8.40 Twenty Minutes
The bold traditions of Viennese popular theatre, comic plays, magic works, exotica and fairy stories are among the many varied sources that influenced Mozart and Schikaneder's Die Zauberflote.
Ivan Hewett , Peter Branscombe and Roger Savage offer a taste of some of them.
9.00 Act 2