Soprano Anne Fuchs is quite familiar with “The Magic Flute.” “I d to sing the role of Papageno in Germany in this opera, so it’s very close and heart to my heart,” Fuchs said. “In the German opera system, you sort of carry out a role for a year or two. You’ll just do it again and again and again. So, it’s one of those operas that I know interior and out and deeply, deeply love.”

Fuchs The Indianapolis resident will play the role of the First Lady in Indianapolis Opera’s production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” May 5-7 at The Toby Theater at Newfields in Indianapolis. This is Fuchs’ first performance on the main stage with Indianapolis Opera. She'd performed in outreach concerts in the community with the company.

Fuchs, thirty-seven, lived in Germany for two one/two years, leaving in two thousand-fifteenth. “This was my first role in Germany, and I'd to do all the dialogue within the first two weeks of setting ft there,” she said. “It’s kind of a crazy story. The manager of a theater asked, ‘Do you know the role of Papageno?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ She said, ‘Great, you go on in two days.’

The only problem was I didn’t know the role. I just knew it was my chance. So, I drove myself crazy over the next forty-eight hours just learning that role, which is kind of a tough thing to do. I don’t know if Anne in her thirty could presently draw that off, but in my twenty I could. I got it together and had to also memorise the German dialogue and speak it convincingly and with a excellent German accent.” The First Lady is one of the three ladies in service of the evil Queen of the Night.

“This opera is just so incredible beca it’s basically about this duality of excellent and evil,” Fuchs said. “The horrible guys seem love excellent guys, and then the excellent guys seem love horrible guys. It’s just confusing knowing which is which.” Fuchs also played the role of Pamina in a production in the U.S. “She is a delightful character as well,” Fuchs said. “She’s pure of heart.”

For more, visit indyopera.org.