The legend of the charming and unscrupulous seducer Don Juan (or Don Giovanni) enjoyed great popularity in the 18th century: sometimes as a cautionary tale of a wrongdoer who eventually gets his comeuppance, sometimes as an allegory of a freedom-loving, unconventional libertine who questions the moral and religious ideas of his day. The »dramma giocoso« created by Mozart and his librettist Da Ponte perfectly blends serious and comic opera. They elevated the subject matter, which was normally given a buffoonish or moralising treatment, with psychological acuity, musical finesse and poetic wit, and depicted both the betrayed Donna Elvira and the seduced Donna Anna as serious antagonists and multilayered characters who are the equals of the irresistible Giovanni.
Maestro Zanetti conducts Claus Guth’s production of Mozart’s masterpiece at the Staatsoper Berlin with Christopher Maltman as the womanizer Don Giovanni and Luca Pisaroni as his side-kick Leporello; Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti sings Donna Anna and Dorothea Röschmann is Donna Elvira.
The performances take place September 22,25,28 & October 1.