Dramma giocoso in two acts, K. 527
Lib­retto by Lorenzo Da Ponte

The Salzburg Fest­iv­al presents Moz­art and Da Ponte’s mas­ter­piece Don Gio­vanni. Ac­cord­ing to Sven-Eric Bechtolf, who presents this year his pro­duc­tion of the op­era at the Salzburg Fest­iv­al, "Don Gio­vanni is a ro­mantic hero of meta­phys­ic­al pro­por­tions.”

Viva la libertà! – In our time, com­par­at­ively devoid of ta­boos and free of shame, where what was once ur­gently ad­voc­ated en­light­en­ment has been de­graded to prof­it­able ob­scen­ity, a the­at­ric­al char­ac­ter such as Don Gio­vanni is harder to un­der­stand and to stage than ever be­fore.

The free­dom which Gio­vanni thirsts for has noth­ing in com­mon with the middle class lib­er­al eth­os and des­ol­ate middle class freedoms of our times, it hardly comes close. His crav­ing is for a lack of bound­ar­ies.

Aligned against this is a world of or­der and strict di­vi­sions, of in­sur­mount­able dif­fer­ences in class and status, of mor­al­ity and re­li­gion, whose mech­an­isms of re­pres­sion are made vis­ible when con­fron­ted with Gio­vanni. ‘Free­dom to do what?’ Moz­art and Da Ponte might ask their Gio­vanni, con­cerned. To have a feud­al mas­ter ar­tic­u­late the re­bel­li­ous de­mand for free­dom on the eve of the re­volu­tion, to make this mur­der­er and al­leged rap­ist a char­ac­ter with whom we identi­fy in or­der to bring hell on stage in the fi­nale – this un­der­tak­ing is so rich in con­tra­dic­tions, both sus­pec­ted and ex­pli­cit, so rich in fears and hopes, false and genu­ine out­rage, sup­port and op­pos­i­tion, earthly and re­li­gious ho­ri­zons, in­de­cision and dar­ing, hu­mour and grav­itas, that one would think a wrest­ling match were tak­ing place in which neither com­pet­it­or loses, but in whose heat the bat­tle­field goes up in flames. Liberty and its lack ap­pear by its flick­er­ing light as equally ter­ri­fy­ing gi­ants. Our age puts out this fire by psy­cho-patho­lo­giz­ing Don Gio­vanni. As noth­ing more is sac­red to us, we find noth­ing un­sacred. Viva la libertà!

Lenneke Ruiten, Donna Anna
Anett Fritsch, Donna Elvira
Valentina Nafornita, Zerlina
Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, Don Giovanni
Luca Pisaroni, Leporello
Tomasz Konieczny, Il Commendatore
Andrew Staples, Don Ottavio
Alessio Arduini, Masetto

Sven-Eric Bechtolf, stage director
Philharmonia Chor Wien
Walter Zeh, chorus master
Wiener Philharmoniker
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor