The Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Germany’s Freiburg University of Music will premiere a joint production of Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” from April 9 to 12, serving as the grand finale of the 41st Shanghai Spring International Music Festival.

The four-day run at the Shangyin Opera House marks a significant step in the conservatory’s mission to integrate international professional standards into its “Teach-Create-Perform-Research” educational model. As a cornerstone of global celebrations marking the 270th anniversary of Mozart’s birth in 2026, this new production offers a fresh interpretation of the composer’s operatic masterpiece, reimagining its allegorical world for a contemporary audience.

Led by artistic directors Liao Changyong and Ludwig Holtmeier, the production features an elite German creative team, including director Alexander Schulin and conductor Marius Stieghorst, who leads the SCM Symphony Orchestra. At a recent creative salon in Shanghai, Schulin praised the “exceptional preparation and emotional investment” of the young Chinese cast, describing the rehearsal process as an exchange of artistic inspiration between the two institutions.

Stieghorst noted that the production seeks to offer a contemporary perspective on the 1791 masterpiece while highlighting Mozart’s sophisticated mapping of human nature. He specifically pointed to the opera’s three thematic pillars – power, love, and instinct – as the driving forces behind the musical and dramatic structure.

The casting reflects the conservatory’s commitment to providing students with professional-grade stage experience. The role of Tamino will be shared by SCM faculty member Liu Chang and doctoral candidate Li Ren, while the role of Pamina will be performed by graduate students Wu Tongyu and Wu Liere. The student-core cast is joined by international guest artists, including Colombian tenor Cesar Augusto Corles Betancourt and German soprano Katharina von Bennigsen.

This collaboration follows a series of international co-productions at the conservatory, including recent stagings of “Carmen” and “Le Nozze di Figaro.” SCM leadership emphasized that the ultimate goal of these partnerships is to internalize global artistic standards to support the development of a distinctively Chinese system of music education and opera production.