Don Giovanni was premiered in Prague on October 29th 1787. This very successful opera, inspired by the myth of Don Juan, marked the second collaboration with the mercurial librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, after Le Nozze di Figaro. According to Sven-Eric Bechtolf, who presents here his production of the opera at the Salzburg Festival, "Don Giovanni is a romantic hero of metaphysical proportions." The stage director does not insist on the cynicism of the character – like it has been done a lot – but also sees Don Giovanni as a person who is craving for freedom and a lack of boundaries in a puritan society.
Don Giovanni is performed by the Italian bass-baritone Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, one of today's leading Mozart singers (like Luca Pisaroni who sings Leporello, and Lenneke Ruiten who performs Donna Anna). Leading the Wiener Philharmoniker is the German conductor Christoph Eschenbach, a heir of George Szell and Herbert von Karajan.
Picture: © Salzburger Festspiele / Michael Pöhn
