Soprano Audrey Luna reigns over high notes as Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute
Record-breaking singer loves the “female energy” of Vancouver Opera’s stylized production of the Mozart classic
Hawaii-based soprano Audrey Luna has hit notes that no one else has sung. Photo by Fay Fox
Vancouver Opera presents The Magic Flute at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre from October 21 to 29
FOR MOST SOPRANOS, the Queen of the Night in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute remains one of the most punishing roles to take on in all of opera.
That’s not because she sings a lot—her evil highness is usually onstage just over 10 minutes—but because she has to navigate such stratospheric notes. “Der Hölle Rache”—her “Rage Aria”—bounces across staccato notes, demands fearless coloratura bravura, and features a succession of high Fs (the ones that sit two-and-a-half octaves above middle C).
But for Oregon-born soprano Audrey Luna, who stopped counting how many times she’d performed the part at about 150, the role seems to feel somewhat natural. By now, she’s even surpassed the Queen’s famous high notes: in 2017, she made the record books by hitting the A above high C in Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating Angel at the Metropolitan Opera.
“At this point it’s a muscle memory thing,” the modest Grammy-winning American star says over the phone between rehearsals at Vancouver Opera. We’ve just asked her what specific challenges there are for her in Mozart’s evil Queen’s so-called “Rage Aria”. Pausing for a moment, she offers: “I guess singing it in the morning is not my favourite.”
Considering it more, she reveals the costumes and their associated contraptions can often pose bigger struggles than the stratospheric music. In performances that have taken her from Rome to New York City, she’s sometimes had to fly, or hover over the action like a giant spider, or manoeuvre around a moving set while wearing a gigantic headpiece—occasionally when filling in at the last minute for a soprano who’s fallen ill. “Your mind kind of goes blank in those moments,” she admits with a laugh. One time the call came when she was on the tarmac in the Italian capital, and she turned around to hurry to the theatre, she recalls.
Whatever Luna wears in Vancouver (designer Myung Hee Cho is said to have conjured goth-y leather and spiked hair, plus a cape that requires more than 32 metres of tulle), audiences here are in for a rare treat. This is an internationally in-demand artist who’s been singing the part since her undergrad years—despite the fact many divas spend decades trying to mature into its extreme range and power. When she made her debut at New York’s hallowed Metropolitan Opera, it was as the Queen—in a production staged by no less than Julie Taymor.
“I would call it the cornerstone of my career,” Luna says of the role. “It’s just followed me from the first thing I was cast in in school till now, and I’m 20 years into my career. It’s opened so many doors for me. There are many companies that will cast locals, and I’ll be the lone American. I end up a lot of places I wouldn’t otherwise have sung at otherwise. I never thought I’d be able to go to Venice in my life and, wow, the Queen of the Night brought me there.”
Audrey Luna as the Queen of the Night, Pittsburgh Opera. Photo by David Bachman
What sets the visit here apart, she says, is the levity and laughter of this production—adding to the sense of whimsy in the elaborate adventures of Prince Tamino and the bird-catcher Papageno on their quest to rescue Princess Pamina, with the help of the titular magic instrument and a parade of fantastical creatures. The VO version is a play within a play, beginning at a garden party in 1791. The production also includes kids—another element that makes it fun, Luna adds.
And then there’s the fact it’s being conducted by Tania Miller and directed by Ashlie Corcoran (who moves easily between opera and her work helming shows as artistic director at the Arts Club Theatre Company). (The rendition was originally directed by Diane Paulus at the Canadian Opera Company, and the assistant director here is Amanda Testini.)
“I’m really enjoying the feminine energy!” Luna exclaims. “I’m trying to think if I’ve ever had a female director and a female conductor at the same time before—I don’t think so.
“The Queen appears in the overture and the finale—that’s kind of cool,” she adds. “And there’s a lot of joy because there’s a play within a play and you kind of get to see the actors as themselves….I’m really remembering how much I enjoy being in this production.”
Luna seems to be enjoying a lot about life these days. While she admits her schedule has slowed down a bit since the pandemic, that’s allowed the Hawaii-based artist to take on another role: as a mother to a now two-year-old. “I’m having a lot of time at home—otherwise it would have been a completely different life for my daughter on the road with me,” she says. In other words, the tropical island allows for complete downtime—to recuperate from Rage Arias and lay low between those high Cs, Fs, and As.
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