Zaide

Mozart’s Zaide is a fragment – its story unfinished. We don’t know how the tale of the lovers Zaide and Gomatz ends. Both are European slaves seeking to escape the captivity of Sultan Soliman. Will a magnanimous ruler forgive their failed attempt and renounce his claim to Zaide, whom he seems to love? Or will he, as a vengeful sovereign and wounded man, have them executed? How will Zaide and Gomatz respond? None of this is resolved – nor is the question of what kind of opera Zaide might have become: an exoticizing “Turkish opera” reflecting its time’s Eurocentric gaze? Or an Enlightenment-era plea for freedom and equality? Or perhaps both?

Stage director Jessica Glause embraces the openness of the fragment and brings it to life with a stellar cast of young Mozart voices and a community ensemble composed of people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Together, they follow the threads Mozart and his librettist Johann Andreas Schachtner left behind, reexamine character dynamics, and create resonances between the 18th century and our increasingly complex present. Their exploration is accompanied by newly composed songs from Austrian artist Eva Jantschitsch aka Gustav – a bold blend of hip-hop, chanson, post-punk, and electro that engages with Mozart’s music playfully, tenderly, and provocatively.