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Interestingly, the part of the bird catcher is so well written that almost every artist who assumes it gets the lion's share of the applause. Shon Sims, who sang it on this occasion, was no exception. This baritone who has sung with Seattle Opera and a number of US regional opera companies, as well as the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, sang with thrust, made the most of the text, and got numerous laughs with his well timed comic stagecraft.

The simple, but traditional, production was staged by Czech director, Martin Otava. The functional settings were conceived by Valentine Topencharov who also designed the costumes, some of which looked new. Both the arias and the dialogue were performed in German with English supertitles shown above the stage.

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