Mozart opera comes to URI theater

One of the best-loved and mostperformed operas in the world, Mozart's "The Magic Flute," will be performed for the public by the University of Rhode Island's Opera Workshop at the Kingston campus on Sunday, March 30, at 3p.m.

Bethany Clarke, of Jamestown, is in the cast.

The popular opera, originally written in German, will be performed in the URI Fine Arts Center concert hall, in an English translation by Andrew Porter. The opera will also be presented in an outreach performance for school children in middle school grades on Friday, March 28.

Essentially a fairytale with a convoluted plot about a lost prince who sets out to rescue the daughter of the Queen of the Night in a mythological time and place, the opera is also full of Masonic symbolism and is an allegory for man's journey into Enlightenment. The work premiered in 1791.

The URI Fine Arts Center is located at 105 Upper College Road in Kingston. Parking is behind the center, off Bills Road. Admission for the opera is $8 for the general public, $2 for students, with seating on a first-come basis. The box office opens 45 minutes before the performance. For more information, call the URI Music Department at 874-2431.