opera notebook
some operas I have seen on videoW.A. Mozart, Don Giovanni (1787)
libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte
Antwerp, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, 2026
- Conductor: Francesco Corti
- Director: Tom Goossens
- Set Designer: Sammy Van den Heuvel
- Don Giovanni: Michael Arivony
- Donna Anna: Marie Lys
- Donna Elvira: Arianna Vendittelli
- Zerlina: Katharina Ruckgaber
This bare-stage-plus-one-ladder production of Don Giovanni has perhaps less visual interest than any other opera I've seen, on stage or on video. The only variety in what is otherwise nearly a concert production is an inexplicable onrush of chickens near the end of Act II. Oh, and a few characters take their rather drab costumes off occasionally.
Musically, as so often with eccentric productions, this version is first-rate. Michael Arivony is particularly magnetic as the title Don, and the whole company does fine work.