The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: Don Giovanni
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* Notes * Livermore Valley Opera's Don Giovanni (Ovation pictured, photograph by author) opened last night at the Bankhead Theater. The opera is cast well and the production is very committed. Robert Herriot's staging used video projections that featured monstrous roses in every scene. They seemed to have blood vessels and looked almost three-dimensional. The…
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* Notes * Patricia Racette's production of Don Giovanni (end of Act I pictured left, photograph by Kristen Loken) opened at Merola Opera Program last night in San Francisco. There was lots of very strong singing and the direction felt very human and sensible. Set in 1950s Rome, the stage featured lots of screens and…
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* Notes * Director Ivo van Hove's debut production at The Met, Don Giovanni (ovation pictured), opened last night. The direction is sleek and contemporary, but best of all was baritone Peter Mattei in the title role. Essentially the set is part of a square with five grey, brutalist buildings. There are lots of rectangular…
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* Notes * Don Giovanni, the last installment of the Mozart-Da Ponte trilogy directed by Michael Cavanagh, opened yesterday evening at San Francisco Opera. It was a joy to hear Maestro Bertrand de Billy conduct this beautiful music and there was much lovely singing. Post-apocalyptic future felt much like something out of Octavia E. Butler's Parable…
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* Notes * Pocket Opera opened the 2020 season with Don Giovanni yesterday afternoon at the Hillside Club in Berkeley. The singing and staging of this English language performance was one of the most engaging I've experienced of Mozart's dark comedy. Donald Pippin, the Artistic Director Emeritus of Pocket Opera, has retired and this is…
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* Notes * Merola Opera Program‘s latest production of Don Giovanni (pictured left, photograph by Kristen Loken) opened with the first of two performances on Thursday night. Director James Darrah’s production goes against the text and the drama, with most of the action taking place in an artist’s studio, designed by Emily MacDonald and…
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* Notes * Don Giovanni opened with two different casts at Opera San José over the weekend. The piece seemed a bit beyond the abilities of all those involved. Though Mozart sounds wonderfully effortless, the Sunday afternoon performance on Easter was both sincere and labored. It was probably a wise decision to cut “Dalla sua…
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* Notes * The Michael Grandage production of Don Giovanni (Act II pictured left, photograph by Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera) is currently having a first revival at the Metropolitan Opera. The performance last Saturday was good, but not outstanding. Edward Gardner conducted a lively and speedy orchestra. Raymond Aceto could have sounded more commanding as the Commendatore.…
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* Notes * Peter Stein’s production of Don Giovanni (Act II pictured left with Soile Isokoski as Donna Elvira, David Bizic as Leporello, Roxana Constantinescu as Zerlina, Joshua Bloom as Masetto, Julianna Di Giacomo as Donna Anna, and Andrej Dunaev as Don Ottavio; photograph by Robert Millard) for Lyric Opera opened at Los Angeles Opera yesterday.…
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15. October 2011: Opening Opera Tattler Review 18. October 2011: From the Orchestra* Had a brief discussion about the cuts to the opera with Maestro Luisotti before the performance. When asked why the epilogue was cut, he simply answered that it was thus in the Vienna version. He also explained how the continuo was divided…
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