Mandel Opera and Humanities Festival 2024

May 9 - 26, 2024

Event Schedule About the Festival About the Opera View Festival Program Book

The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival: Power is a series of concerts, exhibitions, and conversations created for the greater Cleveland community and headlined by four fully staged performances of Mozart's The Magic Flute, led by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst at Severance Music Center.

TCO’s annual opera and humanities festival is supported by a portion of a historic grant of $50 million from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation. Learn more about this historic gift.

Event Schedule

May 9 Sound of Ideas Community Tour: Wealth and Power in Northeast Ohio

The Cleveland History Center

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April 11 - May 26 The Magic Lens: A Photographic Journey by Chuck Stewart

Bogomolny-Kozerefski Grand Foyer at Severance Music Center

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May 13 Open Dress Rehearsal: Mozart’s The Magic Flute

Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center

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May 15An Evening with Kai Bird

This presentation includes chamber music performances by Cleveland Orchestra musicians.

Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center

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May 16, 18, 24 & 26 Mozart’s The Magic Flute

Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center

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queen of the night puppet figure from Mozart's The Magic Flute

May 17Conrad Tao in Recital: Power and Influence

Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Music Center

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May 18 at 10 AM & 12 PM Mozart’s The Magic Flute for Kids

Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Music Center

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May 19 Power Dynamics: Diverse Perspectives on Classical Music

Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Music Center

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May 21 Terence Blanchard and Friends: A Celebration of Wayne Shorter

Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center

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Terence Blanchard in a red jacket holding a trumpet

May 21 Power and Artistry: A Conversation with Jazz Legend Terence Blanchard

City Club of Cleveland

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May 23 & 25 Mozart's Gran Partita

Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center

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May 25 United in Song! A Free Community Choral Celebration

Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center

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April 14 - July 21 Africa and Byzantium and The Magic Flute

Cleveland Museum of Art

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About the Festival

Since its premiere in 1791, Mozart’s The Magic Flute has charmed audiences with its enchanting story and entrancing score. But beneath its magic bells, ominous serpents, vengeful queens, and mystical quests lies a carefully attuned study of power.

Reason, embodied by Enlightenment ideals that the Freemasons embraced, duals with superstition; science and wisdom vie with ignorance; and light combats darkness. Rising above them all, the power of love — for a companion, a child, a community, or humankind — has the unique ability to transcend these divides.

The second Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival delves into these competing forces — as they play out in Mozart’s beloved opera, as well as across nature, society, and within the state of humanity itself. Anchored by a new staged production of The Magic Flute featuring The Cleveland Orchestra, Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, and a cast of renowned singers, the festival will include a fascinating array of performances, conversations, and exhibitions.

Over the course of two extended weekends from May 15 to May 26, 2024, community partners from across the Greater Cleveland area and luminaries from around the globe will come together to examine and debate many of the power structures embedded in our world today.

View Festival Program Book

About the Opera

One of the greatest operas ever written, Mozart’s timeless classic is about the search for truth and reason, love and enlightenment, and how power is used for good or evil purposes. Staged with imaginatively designed puppets,The Magic Flute draws us into a world where a prince, Tamino, and a princess, Pamina, triumph over every obstacle in their search for wisdom and are finally united in love. Throughout their journey, audiences are delighted with the lovers’ soulful arias, the stratospheric vocal fireworks of the villainous Queen of the Night, the subterranean depths of the formidable high priest Sarastro, and the comic melodies of the lovable bird catcher, Papageno.

Staged production sung in German with projected supertitles.

Performed as part of the 2024 Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Opera and Humanities Festival.

Performing Artists

The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Nikolaus Habjan, director
Julian Prégardien, tenor (Tamino)
Ludwig Mittelhammer, baritone (Papageno)
Christina Landshamer, soprano (Pamina)
Kathryn Lewek, soprano (Queen of the Night)
Tareq Nazmi, bass (Sarastro)
Alexandria Shiner, soprano (First Lady)
Jennifer Feinstein, mezzo-soprano (Second Lady)
Daryl Freedman, mezzo-soprano (Third Lady)
Rodell Rosel, tenor (Monostatos)
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone (Speaker of the Temple)
Owen McCausland, tenor (First Armored Man and Second Priest)
Kidon Choi, baritone (Second Armored Man and First Priest)
Ashley Emerson, soprano (Papagena)
The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus