Chief Uncas’ Direct Descendant
Directing Glimmerglass’ ‘Flute’
![This set rendering of Glimmerglass' "Magic Flute" is the vision of set designer Troy Hourie and costume designer Kaye Voyce. (Courtesy Glimmerglass Opera)](https://www.allotsego.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/MagicFluteStoryboard3FINAL.jpg)
![Madeline Sayet](https://www.allotsego.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/madeline-sayet1.jpg)
COOPERSTOWN – Last summer, Madeline Sayet visited Glimmerglass’ environs for the first time, hiking into the woods with designers Troy Hourie (sets) and Kaye Voyce (costumes).
They came upon a clearing. “There must have been a fire,” said Sayet, who, a direct descendant of the Mohegans’ great chief Uncas, is as close to a Native American princess as anyone these days. “All the trees were isolated and singular. And we said: That’s Sarastro’s work. The trees are in the world, but they aren’t leaning on each other.”
The winter before, Sayet, a young theater director – The Glimmerglass Festival’s presentation of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” is her first opera – was invited to Francesca Zambello’s New York City apartment and asked to direct the centerpiece of the opera company’s 40th anniversary season.