Prospect Recommends: Don Giovanni, Royal Opera House

January 23, 2014

Kasper Holten made his directorial debut at the Royal Opera House last February, with an exquisite production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. A year on, all eyes are on his follow-up, Mozart’s notoriously inscrutable tragicomedy Don Giovanni.

Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien leads the cast as the roguish seducer. Young and handsome enough to convince dramatically, and musically experienced enough to pull it off (he’s sung the role over 20 times, including at the Met), he alone would be reason enough to book tickets. That he is joined by the magnificent Véronique Gens, France’s operatic queen, as Donna Elvira, and our own Elizabeth Watts as Zerlina, makes it an imperative. San Francisco Opera’s Nicola Luisotti conducts, in one of his occasional (and always interesting) forays away from the core Italian repertoire.

London is overdue a good new Giovanni, especially after the disappointment of Rufus Norris’s misfire at ENO. Holten’s track record and attention to psychological detail bode well for this new production. If you miss out in the scramble for tickets you’ll be able to catch the opera in live cinema relays across the UK.

Royal Opera House, 1st to 24th February