Aging Magician
At the Balboa Theatre, San Diego Opera
868 Fourth Ave, San Diego, CA 92101
This sweeping and inspiring new multi-media operatic work employs video projection, shadow puppetry, and cutting-edge stage craft to tell the story of Harold; a man on his vibrant last adventure as he explores the allegory of time, youth and the peculiar magic of ordinary life. Accompanied by the award-winning Attacca Quartet and the famed Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Aging Magician moves us along from the surgical repair of a timepiece through the magic of time itself. Do not miss this heartfelt and vibrant masterpiece that Broadway World called “Timeless magic...shockingly beautiful.”
PERFORMANCES
FRI, MAY 13 AT 7:30PM
SAT, MAY 14 AT 2PM
SAT, MAY 14 AT 7:30PM
Check out some of the amazing reviews!
"Aging Magician" Is Ageless Opera Theater
"Aging Magician is the very beautiful and mysterious story of a clockmaker observing his own death as he tries to complete his story of an aging magician, Rinde Eckert, but actually his book of life in which he hopes for a successor. Eckert's companions are the Brooklyn Youth Chorus -- 29 teenage girls who sing like angels conducted by their founder, Dianne Berkun Menaker--and the brilliant Attaca Quartet."
San Diego Opera Conjures the Enchantment of Paola Prestini’s Magical ‘Aging Magician’
"Prestini saved her plush vocal writing for the voices of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, who sang with laudable power when required, but maintained their dulcet dramatic urgency throughout. Chorus director Dianne Berkun Menaker deftly conducted her charges from the side of the stage, and the disciplined ease of their response proved the wisdom of engaging this ensemble for Aging Magician, which they helped premiere in 2017."
Opera News - Aging Magician
"Prestini’s eclectic score, expertly realized by Eckert, the chorus and the Attacca Quartet, ranged from chant-influenced passages to thorny patches of dissonance, moving from background to foreground and back again. At times you forgot there was a score; at other times, like that accordion melody, it was unforgettable. The whole presentation was so innocent, so imaginative, so nurturing, so charming, so beautiful, that my cynical, post-Covid sensibility tried to resist.But we all have our place in the universe, in the present moment, and perhaps beyond. As the Magician discovered, and we along with him, resistance is futile."