One of the first operas I ever performed was Mozart’s The Magic Flute during my first year of college. It remains memorable because I played second clarinet alongside my instructor, Roger McKinney. Although I appreciated the music, opera was never something I followed closely. The stories often felt difficult to keep up with, and despite performing in the production, I never actually watched it. My seat was in the orchestra pit beneath the stage, so I spent the entire performance focused on the music rather than the action. Over the years, the only part I regularly heard was the famous Queen of the Night’s Aria when guest soloists performed with the orchestra.

That finally changed this spring.

The Kaohsiung City Spring Arts Festival presented a full production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, giving me the opportunity to experience the opera from the audience for the first time. It had been many years since Kaohsiung hosted a production of this scale, so I was excited to attend with my children.

The production featured several internationally recognized performers in the leading roles, including Erika Miklósa as the Queen of the Night, Philip Cutlip as Papageno, and Jeremy Galyon as Sarastro.

Whenever visiting performers come to Kaohsiung, a group of friends and I like to welcome them with dinner or coffee. It’s a chance to introduce them to the city beyond the usual tourist destinations and help them experience local life during their stay.

During this visit, the conversation turned to knives, and several members of the cast were interested in seeing how they’re made. We invited them to stop by our new workshop for a tour.

They explored the workshop, learned about the craftsmanship behind the knives, and spent time seeing the tools, equipment, and projects we work on every day. We also captured a fun video during their visit—including a brief surprise appearance by Philip Cutlip—along with several memorable photos from the day.

Here’s the cameo video of our now famous Jende Ceramic Sharpening Steel Whack!,Whack!,Whack!,Whack! video:

And some nice family friendly pictures of some proud new owners of some Spirit Blades:

 

But that’s not all – We also secretly placed a 6 foot walking billboard at the opera rehearsal… When my wife (who is in the orchestra) saw it, she called me up and yelled at me – after getting pictures, of course!  😀

So the big night finally arrived – The opera was a huge success all around! The most interesting thing was when the Queen of the Night was singing her famous aria, she gave Pamina a knife to kill Sarastro… I couldn’t help wondering at that point if that was why Erika had purchased 2 knives earlier in the week….

We were lucky enough to score a slightly blurry selfie with one of the Three Ladies (who were amazing together!)

With the closing of the opera’s run, we were lucky to spend a little more time with our new found friends before they had to depart for home. Jeremy joined us for breakfast, and had to leave first, but we were able to have a light lunch with Erika and Philip at one of my favorite places in Kaohsiung – Chung-Shan University, which has an amazing view, and is right on the beach.

Sadly, the time came for us to say our goodbyes, and we turned the page on yet another amazing encounter with great people! We did get some good souvenirs, though… We had the entire cast sign the program for our daughters, and Erika and Philip left a little something extra for them as well.