Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Don Giovanni

Director: Michael Grandage

Conductor: Fabio Luisi

Cast: Simon Keenlyside, Adam Plachetka, RolandoVillazon, Hibla Gerzmava, Malin Byström és Serena Malfi

World premiere: National Theater (now Estates Theater), Prague, 1787. 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. Three charismatic singers, Simon Keenlyside, Ildar Abdrazakov, and Mariusz Kwiecien, share the role of the title hero, who goes to hell in a dazzling coup de théâtre. The ensemble of great Mozartean singers includes Isabel Leonard, Angela Meade, Matthew Polenzani, Marina Rebeka, Erwin Schrott, Ramón Vargas, and RolandoVillazón. Fabio Luisi and Plácido Domingo conduct.