Cast
René Jacobs — Conductor
Vincent Boussard — Stage director
Vincent Lemaire — Stage design
Alain Poisson — Lighting
Christian Lacroix — Costume designer
Johannes Weisser — Don Giovanni
Marcos Fink — Leporello
Sveltana Doneva — Donna Anna
Alex Penda (a.k.a. Alexandrina Pendatchanska) — Donna Elvira
Werner Güra — Don Ottavio
Sunhae Im — Zerlina
Nikolay Borchev — Masetto
Alessandro Guerzoni — Il Commendatore
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
Innsbruck Festival Chorus
Program notes
In Baden-Baden, Nayo Titzin follows the producers of the opera Don Giovanni, created for the Innsbruck Festival of 2006. He is looking for a musical truth...
What if Mozart's masterwork Don Giovanni had been interpreted in a wrong way for more than two centuries? Conductor René Jacobs, famous for his performance of Così fan tutte and laureate of a Grammy Award for his innovative recording of The Marriage of Figaro, comes back with new ideas on the comprehension of one of the greatest operas of all times.
Created in Prague in 1787 with great success, this "happy drama" combining comical and tragic elements is most likely the opera that marked Romantic composers the most. Inspired by Don Juan and the myth of the punished seducer, the work originally takes form through Don Giovanni's figure, a young and charming man who is spoiled and who likes women. Maybe this character was demonized and became a tragic hero with the influence of that time's romanticism. But what was the real concept of this opera?
In this relevant documentary, Nayo Titzin clarifies and highlights all the brightness of those melodies and recitatives. Rewarded with many praises in the international press, this production shows the dramaturgical perfection of the "opera of the operas," the absolute of the genre, as Wagner once said. Once more, the Bulgarian director offers a fun and subtle report, and makes sure that everyone will understand this myth.