‘Magic Flute’ film is planned

Kenneth Branagh will direct a film version of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” the BBC reports. James Conlon, who becomes music director for the Los Angeles Opera in 2006-07, will conduct the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Filming will begin in January at London’s Shepperton Studios. Stephen Fry, who collaborated with Branagh on the 1992 Branagh-directed film “Peter’s Friends,” wrote the libretto, transferring the setting to World War I. The cast will include Joseph Kaiser as Tamino, Amy Carson as Pamina and Ben Davis as Papageno.

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-- Chris Pasles