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By Mira Temkin

28-Mar-23 – There are a few things that set this world premiere apart from the other shows. For one, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s glorious music, blended with colorful, dramatic, animated visuals and brilliant performances by live actors.

Mozart Immersive – The Soul of a Genius has started its open-end run at Lighthouse ArtSpace Chicago at 108 West Germania Place.

The internationally-acclaimed creative team of artistic creator Massimiliano Siccardi, composer/arranger Luca Longobardi, and artistic director Vittorio Guidotti takes visitors on a whimsically surreal journey into the mind and soul of Mozart’s genius.

Groundbreaking artificial intelligence was used to design dreamlike sequences inspired by 18th century destinations that Mozart visited throughout his life.

Born in 1756 in Salzburg, Austria, Mozart was a child prodigy, performing short compositions at age four. By age five, he was writing his own pieces. At six, Mozart’s father, Leopold, took him to the renowned music capitals of western Europe.

But Mozart felt stifled by his father’s expectations. He eventually settled in Austria, where he created more than 600 musical compositions, including 50 symphonies and 22 operas, many of which are still performed today. He died from a sudden illness at the age of 35.

In the immersive presentation, audiences are surrounded by bustling city streets, ornate royal auditoriums, and lavish paintings, all accompanied by Mozart’s most beloved melodies.

The score is performed by the acclaimed Grammy-nominated Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra of Lithuania under the baton of world-renowned maestro Constantine Orbelian.

Legendary dancer/actor Mikhail Baryshnikov takes on the heart-rending role of Mozart’s father, who launched Mozart’s early career but became estranged from his son later in life.

“Leopold Mozart took his young son to the heights of stardom, only to become a contentious influence on Mozart in his adulthood,” commented Baryshnikov. “I am delighted to portray one of the controversial figures in Mozart’s life in this truly distinctive immersive presentation.”

Featured in the production are some of Mozart’s best-loved compositions, including Ave verum corpus, Requiem, Symphony No. 40, Turkish March, and a selection of works from Mozart’s acclaimed operas, The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro.

Creative consultant Richard Ouzounian has been involved with all of the Lighthouse ArtSpace shows. He’s been an actor, director, radio host, and theatre critic throughout an illustrious career, and brings a unique perspective to every production. His main focus has been writing the catalogs for the shows, providing audiences with background information about the artists and their work to enhance the experience.

He says he perceives Mozart Immersive as a “living work of art.”

“One of the things that’s different about the Mozart Immersive is that in past shows, they used existing music,” said Ouzounian (right) from Toronto, where Lighthouse ArtSpace is based. “For this production, they took Mozart’s original compositions and created a new score, which rearranged or ‘re-composed’ the music.”

He says classical music aficionados will recognize their favorite score – but experience the requiems, for example, in a whole new way, “much like a variation on a theme.”

Siccardi, Longobardi, and Guidotti, he says, were “passionate about every detail,” like how light and color project onto the screen, and he is amazed by how audiences are reacting to the performances.

“After each vignette, people applauded the same way as they would have reacted to the movement of a symphony,” he said.

Ouzounian describes Mozart’s life as sorrowful. “He was a protege at age 4, started composing music and never really had a childhood. He spent the rest of his life trying to recapture the youth he never had.”

When asked what he wants people to come away with from the exhibit, he says, “I hope they will immerse themselves in the experience and find themselves elevated and excited. Whether or not they are familiar with Mozart’s work, they will come away with more in-depth knowledge of the composer and his life, much more than they would have after seeing the movie, Amadeus.”

Ouzounian is currently working on Immersive Disney Animation, which combines Disney music with animation from Disney’s most popular films. It premiered in Toronto in December and is currently in nine U.S. cities with more opening at a later date.

• More info: Mozart Immersive

Photos by Kyle Flubacker.