Tag Archives: Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni in HD – 2023
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th May 2023Ivo van Hove’s Jack the Ripper with music by Mozart and sets by Jan Versweyveld masquerading as Le Corbusier was telecast this afternoon from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House. The screen and the program said the opera was Don Giovanni, but Mozart’s dramma giocoso had all the giocoso removed by director Hove. The…
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Mad Max Meets Mozart – 2004
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd February 2018This is a review that I wrote in 2004. It’s been buried deep within this site. I decided to copy it to a more visible spot. Things can always get worse. Consider Don Giovanni at the English National Opera. I was at the October 4th performance. Calixto Bieito was the director. He is from Barcelona….
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Don Giovanni’s Timeline
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 13th October 2017The time setting of the two acts of Mozart’s Don Giovanni has always puzzled me. Everyone, including I suppose Mozart and Da Ponte, seems to think that the action in Act 2 starts immediately after that of the first act. In other words, the action from start to finish is continuous and depicts the last…
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Finale 16 – Don Giovanni Act 2
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 31st July 2017Mozart’s seminal opera connects to audiences on many levels. To some, like GB Shaw, it is the acme of western art. The finale of the opera is one of the lyric stage’s most compelling creations. The opera’s last number is an epilogue. It was omitted in the opera’s Vienna premiere and from all of the…
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Finale 11 – Don Giovanni Act 1
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th February 2017Don Giovanni is one of opera’s greatest works, but it’s on the long side. So when the finale to act 1 finally arrives it’s always welcome, especially as it’s so good. Giovanni is supposedly a great seducer, but he fails at every amatory attempt, resorting to attempted rape at the conclusion of act 1. His…
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Il Mio Tesoro
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th January 2017Don Ottavio,the tenor in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, is opera’s biggest nebish. After being alone in a bedroom with Giovanni, a life with Ottavio seem worse to Donna Anna than 100 flights on American Eagle. I think after more than two centuries Ottavio’s still waiting for her to agree to marry him. But he has two…
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Don Giovanni in HD 2016
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd October 2016This telecast could serve as the imprimatur of what’s wrong with opera in the 21st century. This is said not to criticize the Mozart/Da Ponte masterpiece which, of course is one of opera’s greatest works. Rather, it’s a swipe at the management of today’s opera houses in general and the Met’s in particular. These telecasts…
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Don Giovanni in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 29th October 2011Mozart’s iconic masterpiece received a completely satisfying performance this afternoon. Every part of it was A level or above. The new production of the opera was staged by British theater director Micheal Grandage. The sets and costumes were by Paule Constable. What was most remarkable about the production was that it was traditional. The action was set…
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Letter From Dallas
Written by | 10th November 2010The author of this letter is Dean Emeritus of the College of Arts and Sciences at Texas Tech University. It describes her reactions to the performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni on Nov 5 and that of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena the following day at the Dallas Opera. NK We had an interesting time at the Dallas…
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Don Giovanni Returns to Santa Fe
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th July 2009Last performed by the Santa Fe Opera in 2004, Director Chas Rader-Shieber production of Don Giovanni returned to the company’s stage last night (July 18, 2009). Designer David Zinn clothed even the trees in red and hot pink. His movable sets adjusted the changing scenes with great dramatic effect. The opera’s famous penultimate scene was…
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