NEW ZEALAND OPERA, NEW ZEALAND

“DON GIOVANNI”

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte

The Ultimate Seduction.

“Here for a good time, not a long time” might well be the motto of Don Giovanni, opera’s greatest anti-hero. A thoroughly hedonistic womanizer, he will stop at nothing – even murder – in the pursuit of pleasure.

Mozart’s liveliest, most extreme and most romantic music draws the image of a human being who knows that his existence is not infinite, and therefore wants to make the most of his time on earth.

Don Giovanni cannot resist the opportunity to seduce any woman who crosses his path. But as a crowd of wronged lovers, their fiancés and other enraged relatives grows, his fate is sealed when he kills the father of Donna Anna.

Mozart’s serio-comic opera might have a villain at its heart but watching him get his come uppance has drawn rapturous audiences since its premiere in 1788.

The Cast

This new production stars English baritone Mark Stone in the title role, with English-born Australian soprano Lisa Harper-Brown as Donna Anna, Dunedin’s Jonathan Lemalu as Leporello and our current Freemasons Dame Malvina Major Young Artist Anna Leese (Tatyana in Eugene Onegin) as Donna Elvira.

The Story

Don Giovanni, an exceptionally lecherous nobleman, cannot resist the opportunity to seduce any woman who crosses his path. As a small crowd of wronged lovers, their fiancés and other enraged relatives grows, his fate is sealed when he kills the father of Donna Anna, one of his conquests. The Commendatore might be dead but his wrath is enough to cross even this boundary.

Accompanied by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra

Featuring the Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus.

Sung in Italian with English surtitles.

A New Zealand Opera production
In association with the Christchurch Arts Festival

“As for all great pieces, the possibilities for Don Giovanni are endless, which is why it will continue to be performed forever. If Mozart is Shakespeare, then Don Giovanni is his Hamlet — an eternal work which continues to ask questions of performers and audiences.

Mark Stone, Don Giovanni

The opera, which was performed on August 22 through September 22, 2013 at the CBS Canterbury Arena in Christchurch, New Zealand, received a wide applause from the public and the critics….

CAST:

Don Giovanni: Mark Stone
Leporello: Jonathan Lemalu
Donna Elvira: Anna Leese
Donna Anna: Lisa Harper-Brown
Don Ottavio: Nicky Spence
Commendatore: Richard Green
Masetto: Robert Tucker
Zerlina: Amelia Berry

CREATIVE TEAM:

Conductor: Wyn Davies
Director: Sara Brodie
Production Designer: John Verryt
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Whiting
Lighting Designer: Jeremy Fern

Images from the performance: