An interpretation of Mozart's The Magic Flute rich with West Coast native symbolism opens this weekend, the culmination of a three-year partnership between Vancouver Opera and a First Nations group.

Kevin Short sings Sarastro and Nathalie Paulin is Pamina in the Vancouver Opera production of The Magic Flute.
(Tim Matheson/Vancouver Opera)

Vancouver Opera has set Mozart's fantasy, first produced in Vienna in 1791, amid the mountains and tall trees of the B.C. rainforest.

The costumes, masks and mythology, adapted with the help of the First People's Heritage, Language and Culture Council, are rooted in First Nations legend.

Vancouver Opera approached the group three years ago with the idea of incorporating West Coast native masks and symbols in a production of The Magic Flute.

The result is a co-production guided by native and non-native costume designers, choreographers, designers and mask makers.

It's still Mozart, with not a note changed, said director Robert McQueen.

But the look and some of the sensibility of the opera have been altered to reflect contemporary West Coast Canada.

"The way that women are spoken about by some of the elder male characters in the original German text — to have women be denigrated like that is just odd," McQueen said in an interview with CBC Radio.

Lines that would seem out of place in First Nations thinking have been adapted in the opera, to be sung in English with some dialogue in Coast Salish.

Etienne Dupuis is Papageno and Angela Welch is Papagena. Costumes reflect West Coast native traditions.
(Tim Matheson/Vancouver Opera)

More than 69 costumes were designed from scratch to reflect traditions from several West Coast peoples.

Mozart's original symbolism of the moon is still evident in the Queen of the Night role, but she wears a dress of ferns.

An extensive consultation with native groups was necessary to ensure the West Coast elements were used appropriately, said McQueen, who produced a touring version of The Magic Flute for the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto.

One of the First Nations women working on the piece told McQueen to "have fun" with the project, despite the risk of offending cultural traditions.

"She said, regardless of what you do, someone's going to take exception," he said.

Tracey Herbert, executive director of the First People's Heritage, Language and Culture Council, said she's been an opera fan most of her life.

"I grew up on our reserve outside of Cache Creek, B.C., and out in the boondocks you can't get very many stations, so I listened to CBC Radio a lot. And in the evenings it was hockey or opera."

McQueen said this project has led him to think about creating an original opera based on West Coast aboriginal stories.

"This is the first step, but the next step is First Nations composer, First Nations librettist, creat[ing] a piece from the tradition that is a contemporary theatre piece … who knows what that would be … but that would be my prayer for the next step," he said. 

The Vancouver Opera production of Mozart's The Magic Flute opens Saturday and continues until Feb. 8 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver.