Between days 18 December and 10 January the Teatro Real will offer 15 functions Don Giovanni, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in a production of the Berlin Staatsoper, premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 2008, with the same leading duo that will perform at Real: british baritone Christopher Maltman, as Don Giovanni, and the Spanish-Uruguayan bass-baritone Erwin Schrott, as Leporello.
The interpretation of both, unanimously praised by critics, acquires a special meaning in this montage, as Claus Guth reinforces, in its staging, the macabre bond of the two characters, whose complicity and piety bring, maybe, the only tender and compassionate moments of the production.
The plot takes place in a very versatile fir forest, designed by the set designer Christian Schmidt, where the different pictures of the opera are happening, distorted by the agony of Don Giovanni, that slowly bleeds out from the first to the last scene.
Wounded by the Commander at the start of the opera, in the paroxysm of death the perverse games of seduction that have filled his hectic life parade through his head, walking towards alienation and death without ever abandoning his impetuous spirit, lewd and blasphemous.
Helped by Leporello, friend junkie and adventure buddy who accompanies him in the painful trance, Don Giovanni mezcla, at the opera, the vivid memories encouraged by his hedonistic eagerness, With the blurry visions that precede death. Hidden in the meanders and recesses of a forest always complicit, wisely illuminated by Olaf winter, the forest reflects the drama of the characters, in a pictorial game of chiaroscuro that links the baroque universe of Tirso de Molina's libertine, With the murky world of sexual morons of the 21st century.
Two casts of internationally renowned singers embody the characters of Don Giovanni, led with expertise and depth by Claus Guth, which has already left its mark on three productions presented at the Teatro Real: Parsifal (15/16), Rodelinda (16/17) Y Lucio Silla (17/18).
The baritones Christopher Maltman Y Adrian Eröd (Don Giovanni), the bass-baritones Erwin Schrott Y Marko Mimica (Leporello), las sopranos Anett Fritsch Y Federica Lombardi (Donna Elvira), tenors Mauro Peter Y Airam Hernandez (Don Ottavio), las sopranos Brenda Rae, Adela Zaharia Y María José Moreno (Donna Anna), and also Louise Alder Y Marina Monzó (Zerlina), as well as the bass Krzysztof Baczyk Y Cody Quattlebaum (Masetto), Y Tobias Kehrer Y Goran Juric (The commander), will alternate in the 15 programmed functions, always under the direction of Ivor Bolton, who will direct his fifth Mozart title at the Real, in front of Coro and Orchestra Titulares del Teatro o Real.
Don Giovanni will be presented for the fourth time since the reopening of the Royal Theater: in June 1999 with Daniel Barenboim and Thomas Langhoff; in October 2005 with Víctor Pablo Pérez and Lluis Pasqual; and in April 2013, with Alejo Pérez and Dmitri Tcherniakov.
The production that now reaches the Real is offered in a period of uncertainty and difficulties, demanding an additional effort from everyone to present the opera within the health safety regulations.
The stage manager Claus Guth has modified several details of the staging and the Titular Choir of the Teatro Real will perform with masks specially designed for singers, that promote voice projection and facial movement without releasing aerosols. But these and other adaptations will not prevent the Royal Theater from offering, with the highest quality, a different perspective of the great myth of Spanish literature, with new interpretations that continue to enrich your aura.
ENDESA'S SPONSORSHIP
For José Bogas, CEO of Endesa "contribute so that culture does not stop and, in particular, support the Royal Theater, is an enormous pride for Endesa. We greatly value that the Royal Theater is one of the few Opera Houses in the world that has maintained its programming through thick and thin, despite the pandemic; Besides, it has done it with an enormous quality and without neglecting safety. And that is what we are going to verify with this ‘Don Giovanni’ that Endesa sponsors.”