What makes Don Giovanni an iconic opera (The Royal Opera)

Conductor Nicola Luisotti, Director Kasper Holten, Set Designer Es Devlin and members of the cast, including Malin Byström (Donna Anna), Véronique Gens (Donna Elvira), Elizabeth Watts (Zerlina), Alex Esposito (Leporello) and Mariusz Kwiecien (Don Giovanni) introduce Mozart's Don Giovanni.
www.roh.org.uk/productions/don...
Mozart's Don Giovanni -- first staged in 1787 -- offers boundless scope for directors. Kasper Holten offers a new interpretation that foregrounds the theme of imagination. Don Giovanni is cast as an artist who seduces an endless stream of women through his ability to create wonderful illusions. His catalogue of sexual conquests is a vain attempt to escape his own mortality and comes at a high price.
Holten presents an exciting visual universe that ranges from colourful comedy to exhilarating drama. Set designs by Es Devlin -- who was most recently at Covent Garden with Les Troyens -- and costume designs by Anja Vang Kragh (Stella McCartney, John Galliano, Christian Dior) complete an impressive creative team. The production highlights the beauty and invention of Mozart's dazzling score, which ranges from gorgeous arias and dramatic duets to the brilliant layering of dance melodies that bring Act I to a virtuoso close.

[@RoyalOperaHouse]

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[@michalinemanno699]

Kwiecien is always exciting in whatever role he sings. He gives it his all - 200%!!! 👏👏❤️

[@missmostess]

Best Don Giovanni I've seen - a beautiful visual experience as well as the beautiful singing.

[@mckavitt13]

Certainly one of (if not THE most exciting) Don Giovanni.

[@krowapaulinka4351]

Kwiecień is the best Don Giovanni nowadays, if not ever. His interpretation, singing and acting - it's all perfect. He simply IS Don Giovanni.

[@LA-ph2nc]

Erwin Schrott much more dangerous and dynamic. Love Mariusz Kwiecien, though, shame his finished his operatic Career. I saw him in Paris in Don Pasquale before COVID thought he was marvellous in that. Shame he resigned from opera by the looks of it.

[@carmelarochamartinez1927]

​@@LA-ph2ncSchrott se ahoga en el aria del Champagne.

[@larry-naylor]

I can't believe Giovanni was opera buffa, it's themes are so dark. Having said that the scenes between Giovanni and Leporello are very funny.

[@russellbaston974]

The ‘buffa, comedy’ is a very dark comedy about the absurdity of the human condition.

[@carmelarochamartinez1927]

Don Giovanni, drama giocoso.

[@KittyPurrsMistress]

It's a gorgeous opera

[@kPetrovskii]

That was a really great video introduction to the show! Wow!

[@daisies53]

Love this!

[@Masquerola]

0:19 only a musical genius like Mozart could come up with such music

[@diggler141]

Good to watch on bbc four and want to buy blu ray dvd if you are planning to sell. Really enjoyed it and visual setting is also amazing!

[@hongyeong]

잘 봤습니다. 감사합니다.

[@elaineoldberg3284]

Loved this production and Marius as the Don, but thought the conductor's tempi were a little brisk, especially for some of the singers and their fast patter songs. My all time favorite opera. (Retired musician)

[@herrbrucvald6376]

Donna Anna isn't a liar. But modern taste is certainly frequently debased.

[@lsmith145]

0:20

[@andrenewcomb3708]

Moses lived so many years. And Abraham lived so many years. And Joshua lived so many years. The journey to the cross . . . or never again. Babes like that!

[@mckavitt13]

Why does Gens, so naturally beautiful, always look like a dowager? (Not just here.)

[@MyItalianCircle]

It's a work of genius! And the language is quite modern. We just published a video about it, check it out!

[@M1kelCccHello]

Don Giovanni....I am not......I wish I was.....but then I might catch something nasty....

[@utahdan231]

Leon Kerr so you’re on that side too....

[@annamariabakosi6482]

I don't anderstend...I'm a hungarian old girl...

[@VivaLaVittoria]

Wish they wouldn't refer to him attempting to rape someone as "seducing". I agree this is some of Mozart's best music, but let's stop pretending Don Giovanni's character was anything less than a monster.

[@misscameroon3634]

Methinks you are badly indoctrinated by PC cult Domionica,having spontaneous sex with variety of willing partners is not rape ,it`s just exciting fun!

[@VivaLaVittoria]

@@misscameroon3634 Where to begin? A ) You spelled my name wrong. Try harder. B ) He demonstrates within the story of the opera that he doesn't particularly care if his partners are willing. C ) Are you familiar with the portion of the libretto in which Donna Anna describes the assault? Does that sound like fun to you??? D ) Some opera companies actually do use the word "rape" in translating portions of the libretto, most notably in the first recitative of the opera, in act one.

[@caiovalente505]

@@misscameroon3634 Yeah, try convincing this stupid argument to a actual rape victim!

[@acka.]

@@VivaLaVittoria The story is literally about how people like him go to hell though, the story doesn't attempt to portray him in any positive light lol, everyone around him knows he sucks

[@Jamesp1972]

It's played as a comedy right? Not very palatable in 2022

[@carmelarochamartinez1927]

Los intérpretes son fantásticos pero estas puestas en escena tan "modernas" y con tantos efectos visuales empobrecen la ópera actual y dificultan su comprensión.

[@janwilson9485]

It never works as well set in more modern times, he isnt a seducer, he is a noble who gets away with 'seducing' and raping women and conning men because of his status and connections (see the original 16th C play). The libretto is very clear about this. If you want to change the story please write your own opera dont wreck a masterpiece. Its all in the music and the libretto.

[@iama8537]

Stupid interpretation, even more of Dona Anna. She is not a liar. There is nothing in the opera, in the the libretto to sustain the idea she lies to Don Ottavio. The only thing is that we do not know for sure if she was raped or not by Don Giovanni. If She doe not want to say so to Don Ottavio I would not call that a lie.

[@kristinatomanicova7183]

the best Don Giovanni is Pavol Remenar in Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava in Slovakia:-))))))))))))))) and the best Zerlina is Jana Bernathova :-))))))))))))

[@duanejohnson8786]

When are these nitwits going to stop using the word iconic as the go-to synonym for famous, well known, or familiar? Robotic, dead-ear writing at its worst!

[@marichristian1072]

Sounds like a dreadful production--completely over conceptualized.

[@duanejohnson8786]

It’s the reigning tendency that turns too many productions into unwatchable junk. The more a director can abuse the work and lard it with obsessive pathologies, the more he is acclaimed as a visionary explorer… …or some other slavering nonsense.

[@OccyDaBoss]

0:20