“Don Giovanni” at Santa Fe Opera
Carol Benet
One of the most popular opera’s ever written, Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”, is currently through August 23, 2024 at the Santa Fe Opera.
With an undated concept by director Stephen Barlow and set and costume designer Yannis Tavoris, it is placed in Victorian London. Their idea to make it a sort of Oscar Wildean “Picture of Dorian Gray” yet the idea is only minimally achieved. The set, artist painting a portrait and several of Giovanni on the wall refer to the novel. And If you are close to the stage, you can see the portrait’s age changes at times. I was in mid-auditorium and could not see this.
Nevertheless, the success of the novel idea or not, this production was a great success. It was amazing that Rachel Willis-Sørensen could step into the demanding role of Donna Anna at the last moment. This fabulous soprano beautifully sang the grilling 4 hour performance of “Der Rosenkavalier” that I saw the night before. As Anna in Giovanni she was equally spectacular.
“Don Giovanni” is a Don Juan story with a rapacious Don (Ryan Speedo Green) chasing anything wearing a skirt. His servant Leporello’s (Nicholas Newton) famous aria recounts the lists of his conquests, country by country, ending with Spain -over one thousand.
As it opens, Giovanni is running away from Donna Anna whose father has saved her from an attack. The father Il Commendatore (Soloman Howard) chases Giovanni and is shot dead. The rest of the opera is more conquests and eventual punishment for the Giovanni’s many rapes and the murder.
The action takes place on a rotating stage with scenes in the lobby and the outside entrance to the tony Savoy Hotel plus Giovanni’s portrait laden apartment. Donna Elvira (Rachael Wilson), one of his conquests, pines for Giovanni throughout and there is much interaction between her and the Don and later Leporello with whom the Don has exchanged clothes to escape being caught.
The Don also desires the servant girl Zerlina (Liv Redpath) on the night of her wedding to Masetto (William Guanbo Su). He could do this legally due to “le droit du seigneur”. Donna Anna’s fiancé Don Ottavio (David Portillo) consoles Anna and helps her avenge her father’s murder . His wonderful tenor voice sings two important arias. and the many ensembles. In the end Giovanni is punished by the ghost of Il Commodore.
The opera has one famous song after another starting with the overture that anticipates many of them. The singers in this performance are all excellent and well experienced in the great opera houses of the world including the Metropolitan (Willis-Sørensen, Green, Newton, Portillo, Howard, Su, Redpath).
Chorus Master Susanne Sheston leads the choruses in all this season’s operas. The choruses are made up of Apprentice Singers for all the operas. They are participating in Santa Fe’s Opera program for young opera singers, one of the most competitive and prestigious in the nation.
The entire production “Don Giovanni” is one of the highlights of the season of five operas in the 2024 season of the Santa Fe Opera.