Spectacular bird choir sings Mozart’s opera duet in colorful short

July 16, 2021, 10:55

A chorus of rhythmic robins, song sparrows and pizzicato pigeons perform a Mozartian duo in this magnificent short film.

As Papageno and Papagena prepare to raise the big curtain, and the strings and wind unite to tune in an A concert, these bird musicians take a moment to warm up their own voices.

By pecking and wagging its tail feathers, this unique dawn choir prepares to perform one of Mozart’s greatest opera melodies – “Papagena!” Papageno ‘, a duo of The magic flute.

In the opera, Papageno, having lost his beloved Papagena in the castle of Sarastro, sits alone in misery. But then, as three spirits appear and urge Papageno to play his magic bells, his beloved returns. Perfectly reunited, the two sing to each other to their hearts content.

In this wonderfully creative work, a chorus of melodic and percussive bird songs is looped and layered, to create an opera of birdsong.

Read more: Woodland creatures sing Bellini’s opera in stunning short film

The ‘Feathered Companions’ give Mozart’s beloved duo a touch of Clean Bandit style, with a resonating, punchy bassline and ‘drop’ moments on the dancefloor (more on those here) to compete with an EDM hit.

This is all the brilliant work of ShakeUp Music, who recomposed the duo for this now viral video, which has had millions of views on social networks.

So good, it’s almost – you might say – bad eagle.