I love the effect of the blue fabric of her dress blowing away at the end, showing that she is the "night".

This is a hard aria to sing on the ground, let alone on stage, in front of a public and suspended 10 meters high. She is a true heroine!

Best entrance I've ever seen!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dessay is a true virtuoso. Love everything about her

i love dessay and her queen of the night... viva la dessay!!!

I saw this performance in Paris and the costumes were signed by Kenzo. She was absolutely perfect and it was her last performance as the Queen of the Night !

perfect coloratura, stunning performance, drop any criticism: she's simply brilliant.

Dessey is just a luminous singer. What a privilege to hear her sing and perform.

Dessey is just a luminous singer. What a privilege to hear her sing and perform. I too loved her entrance and exit. It was pure magic and yet so simple to do.

I love the effect of the Queen of the night being bigger than everything else. It fits the original intent of the play.

I never knew ocean waves sounded so beautiful!

i saw this at l'opéra de garnier....it was amazing

The best production I've ever seen. The stage is amazing and the cast is perfect.

wow...she sings very clear.i can understand every single word she sings...

I love her! She does this beautifully. Dessay IS coloratura :)

this video teached me how to sing .. i watched it while practicing maybe 200 times

Absolutely marvelous!!! Shes breathtaking!

the dress is cool!

Beautifull Natalie Dessay Mozart 4Ever💕💕💕💕✅👍

Wow! really impressive, I wish I could watch it in direct....

I have had the good fortune to see many productions of Flute and to have been in four of them. This is absolutely the best entrance of any Queen. It is just breathtaking. And I am impressed by how much emotion and acting Dessay was able to put in this just standing and delivering (and undoubtedly holding on to whatever she was holding onto for dear life.) Good job by the director.

Amazing! Wonderful!!!

I got this one in DVD for $14.90 in ebay..I have been looking for a zauberflute with awesome artists and amazing visual efects I love what they did with every scene.!!!!!!!!!!!...happy that I got this one :))

Lovin' this performance!

One of the most puzzling works of art ever. Wonderful and infinitely beautiful.

She acts so well only with her facial expressions....

Gotta love the exit 💙

The producer was like that's the best way to tie her down because she jitters and moves quite erratically specially during her Queen of the night aria performance =)

What singing! Everyone pales in her light. She is such a complete musician and actress. Just with her facial expressions and sublime phrasing and coloring of her voice, the whole personality of the queen comes through. Brava.

Really cool staging. And, of course, Dessay is magnificent as always.

wow! I loved the set!

Vraiment très impressionnant, de son entrée à sa sortie, vraiment très bien orchestrées, et sa magnifique voix, elle joue ce rôle à la perfection

Damn, this blue volcano can sing.... Who knew that there were blue volcanoes? Also, that they were virtuosic soprano coloraturas...

i think she sounds phenomenal

Dessay's performance of Olympia a the Met brought the house down. It was an unforgattable experience. The Queen of the Night was composed for a truly rare voice such as a dramatic coloratura.

i saw her sing manon at the chicago lyric this fall. she was flawless. simply amazing.

Gosh, the scenes of this Paris production were astonishing.

I love Natalie, I get a bit annoyed at the people who think she is a fading soprano. It is my understanding that her vocal cord operation changed her voice, but did not damage it. I heard her at the Met in Guilio Caesare and I adored her aria.

Amazing the way she appeared!!

If my memory does not fail me, Mozart wrote it for his sister in law, who also sang the role of Constanza. If you want to hear a true and rare voice such as a dramatic coloratura, look for Edda Moser's Queen of the Night. In 1973 she alternated with Lucia Popp at the Met in Marc Chagall's produdtion of the Magic Flute. Moser's Queen is pissed and in rage, she means business, is truly amazing parformance.

Fantastic! Going to see her at the Barbican in April in a concert of Pellisande&Melisanda, just can't wait. Thanks for the postings.

very nice production indeed! the entrance is fantastic!

amazing production

One could say that she's larger than life here.

Wow! She appears like Mt. Fuji this way.

Mise en scène Benno Besson Décors et costumes, Jean-Marc Stehlé Lumières, André Diot

Maravilloso, no me canso de verlo :-)

What a spectacular entrance! Perks you up immediately after all that lengthy sleepy dialogue with the 3 ladies. lol

the costume tho kinda hilarious

WOW! What an entrance!

BEAUTIFUL

This is the most visually stunning 'Die Zauberflote', I've ever seen. Although I tend to agree, with all due respect and admiration to Natalie Dessay (who is a fantastic singer), that she is not her best here. It could perhaps be an off-night or around the time before or after her throat surgery - so her voice was not up to its usual standard. But either way, her voice is not totally unpleasant and her voice actually does fairly well as the despondent but wrathful Queen of the Night.

3:53 "So sexy daaah!"

There has also been wonderful set and costume designer! This is huge!!!!!!!

Una voz potente.Diria que lirica.Y a su vez dulce en su grandeza...

i'm not sure if she's the best actual singer for it, but she is definitely the most beautiful queen.

She's a MOUNTAIN!! :O With a high F!

beautiful ^____^

Die Zauberflote is one of the most performed operas in the entire repertory. This role is written for a dramatic coloratura, but those singers are so rare. Hence you see a lot of lyric coloraturas, like Natalie, sing this role. It's the same with Violetta in La Traviata.

Exceptionnelle Natalie !

Fantastic!Not lunatic. Beatiful! wonderful!every thing.

Wow dude, thanks - didn't even know footage existed. I must say, her singing in the 1994 recordings are much better; however, her acting compared to the 2001 recordings is lacking. Phenomenal either way though. Great post.

I bet she has never stood so still singing an aria in her life, and how she rises out of the floor... how fierce is that?!

Great production, perhaps one of the best! Thanks for posting this one! I like her German diction so much better than her English.

J' y étais !! Immense !!!!

Yep, this is awesome.

"Ujra és újra meghallgatni" volt a belső parancsom....BRAVISSIMÓ!

@droegel82 She was my first Queen of the Night I heard in its entierty. She sounds so much like an instrument!

que genial el vestuario el canto todoooooo eshermosoo

probably the best looking, thrilling entrance and exit of the queen of the night i have seen so far.

perfectly executed!

por favor la misma obra completa con natalie dessay y subtitulos en español para descargarla en youtube

BRAVA. Her voice has developed a lot. [Comprare to 1994]...

Realmente assim é que é uma entrada de uma Rainha

la mejor puesta en escena que he visto en todo este tiempo cuando se eleva desde el suelo, bestial

Natalie will ONLY play this role if she does not come across as really evil. She says that she will not play a "bad" person- you have to admire her for her standards, and she surely has had some wonderful productions mounted for her. Love this entrance!

wow!!!!!!!

"SO IF YOU CARE TO FIND ME..." lol

thanks

I also saw her as Zerbinetta at the MET . In this demanding role she was able to show even more her spectacular skills !

bravissima!!!!

What a divaaaaaaaaaaaa =O

Brava.

Justamente estoy trabajando el concepto de vestuario escenográfico para trabajar en un proyecto de puesta en escena de ópera. ver y escuchar esto es profundamente inspirador! gracias!

If you are interested, I have posted the same 2 arias but recorded in 1994... Interesting to compare... She is one of the very very very few coloratura singers / high notes singers that wish to go further than simple sparkling technique, and succeed in it. What I prefer in her singing is how she uses coloraturas to express feelings. And it is quite rare to feel that the Queen of the Night dies have feeling (except a rude anger...)

si!

@MrHbc3 Agreed on the costumes, for sure. When I used the word "standards", I was actually quoting an interview that Ms. Dessay herself had given, so it was her word. It's also why, she said, that she would not perform "Lulu", despite having been contracted for the role very, very early in her career.

Pretty much the most awesome entrance and exit ever. Though having her body completely concealed makes for a slightly boring performance. Nonetheless, she sings it spectacularly.

@FoxyGrandpa I think she sang it perfectly. I haven't heard any singer after Karin Ott hitting the notes so brilliantly. Yes. Almost like an instrument.

@SsteinwayS yeah pretty much.

amazing! was it opera garnier or opera bastille?

wow, what an interesting dress!

Certifié intergalactique !🌹

Actually, that workshop master class is at Juliard and Ms. Callas only sings along with the student during a short period of this aria. It is the student that finishes the coloratura line in O Zittre Nicht. Callas, I don't believe, ever publicly recorded herself hitting any notes above High E. But then again, possibly someone has a lost recording not yet bestowed on the public.

Brilliant staging

OK, that's a bizarre way of staging that scene, but the Magic Flute is a bizarre story (but in a good way). Why not do something outrageous. Also, Ms. Dessay's rendition of this aria is as good as it gets, IMO.

@MrHbc3 Agreed about the costumes! Why do directors feel that the Queen of the Night needs to look ridiculous?! My choice of the word "standards" was taken directly from an interview Ms.Dessay herself had given in a French publication, so it wasn't arbitrary. She also cited it as the reason why she would not perform the role of "Lulu" despite being contracted for it early on in her career.

That is one big dress for one small girl with one big voice! :D

JAW. DROP. PING.

I totally support your comment!

Kelvinmusic, I see that we have the same favorite. Forever Lucia Popp with Klemperer ! But I do appreciate Dessay's though