Frances Stark: The Magic Flute, solo exhibition, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2017)
‍

Premiered at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Stark’s The Magic Flute (2017) is an approximately 110-minute film adaptation of the popular 1791 opera by composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Emanuel Schikaneder. The opera followed a prince and a bird catcher who crossed paths and endured various tricks and trials in search of love.

For the project, Stark collaborated with a diverse group of figures from across the music world. Conductor Danko Drusko, then a PhD student, adapted Mozart’s entire score. The revised version removed the vocal element, allowing all songs, except the overture, to be performed by a 13-person string section with timpani, accompanied by solo instrumentalists playing the melodies originally composed for singers. He oversaw rehearsals and conducted the musicians during each recording session.

Producer and arranger H.B. Barnum recorded and mixed the music; cellist and mezzo-soprano instructor Ameena Maria Khawaja organized the auditions and coordinated the student musicians throughout the process; and percussionist and film composer Greg Ellis added rhythmic elements and finalized the soundtrack.

The film’s music was performed by a group of young musicians (ages 10 to 19) who auditioned for the project and came together to form a string orchestra and a group of solo instrumentalists. Stark’s adaptation of The Magic Flute confronted notions of power, cultural capital, and institutions, such as the museum, the university, and the opera, while inviting a more humanized experience of beauty, kinship, and art.

‍

‍

Image: The Magic Flute orchestra rehearsing in Frances Stark's studio, with conductor Danko Drusko and producer H.B. Barnum, photo courtesy Frances Stark

Related:

Frances Stark: The Magic Flute, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2017)
LACMA - Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Home
About
Exhibitions
Essays
Press
CV

‍Christine Y. Kim © 2026. Site Credit: Common Space