Mozart’s score for Don Giovanni teems with the elegance and grace that marks his entire output, which is evident from the first bars of the ravishing overture.
Luca Pisaroni as Don Giovanni and Federica Lombardi as Donna Elvira Photo: Marty Sohl/The Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera Season: Don Giovanni
MOZART: Don Giovanni
Cast:
Rachel Willis-Sørensen (Donna Anna), Federica Lombardi (Donna Elvira), Aida Garifullina (Zerlina), Stanislas de Barbeyrac (Don Ottavio), Luca Pisaroni (Don Giovanni), Ildar Abdrazakov (Leporello), Brandon Cedel (Masetto), Štefan Kocán (The Commendatore), Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orchestra conducted by Cornelius Meister.
Aided by his ingenious librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart approached his operatic retelling of the Don Juan myth from a point of view that is neither tragic nor entirely comic, but rather lighthearted, urbane, and ironic. We follow the title character and his earthy comic sidekick, Leporello, through a series of encounters that begins with a fatal duel, moves back and forth between the humorous and the sentimental, and ends with the protagonist being dragged down to hell.
Luca Pisaroni as Don Giovanni Photo: Marty Sohl/The Metropolitan Opera
The city of Seville in southern Spain, which likely inspired Mozart's setting for Don Giovanni, was already famous in his time as a mythical world of winding streets, hot-blooded young men, and exotically beautiful women sequestered behind latticed windows.
The Met’s production places the action in an unnamed Spanish city in the mid-18th century.
Aida Garifullina as Zerlina Photo: Marty Sohl/The Metropolitan Opera
Mozart’s score teems with the elegance and grace that marks his entire output, which is evident from the first bars of the ravishing overture. This combination of musical refinement and extraordinary dramatic expression makes Don Giovanni one of the longest enduring and universally beloved works in the standard repertoire.
Ildar Abdrazakov as Leporello Photo: Marty Sohl/The Metropolitan Opera
