Opera Australia -
details of production of Don Giovanni - from 2nd January 2003

Thursday 2 January 2003
2003 Sydney Summer Season

So many women…
so little time!

Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Jeffrey Black share the title role of Don Giovanni in one of Mozart’s greatest operas

No hero-villain story is more compelling than Mozart’s timeless masterpiece. Here is the world’s most legendary lover in the last days of his life. The irresistible scoundrel is having a bad time of it: he is rejected by all the women he tries to seduce, and at the very end must confront his darkest fears. Don Giovanni is dark, funny, sexy and beautiful. It is also one of the greatest of all operas; this exceptional production has become a firm favourite with Opera Australia audiences.

Simone Young opens the 2003 Sydney Summer Season when she conducts the second "Don Giovanni" of her career; her first was in the "2002 Melbourne Autumn Season". Of her performances "The Age" said, “Simone Young conducts…with great energy that captures the demonic headlong conflicts of the work while drawing out its particular tonal beauty.”

Simon Kenway, who conducts the opera for the first time in his career, takes up the baton for the final five performances. An established and highly respected orchestral and operatic conductorhe most recently worked with the Company conducting performances of "Sweeney Todd" in the 2001 Sydney season.

Sharing the title role of "Don Giovanni" are Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Jeffrey Black.

Teddy Tahu Rhodes sings "Don Giovanni" for the first time in his career. Since making his Opera Australia debut as Dandini in the 1998 production of "Cinderella", New Zealand born baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes has received increasing acclaim. His American debut for San Francisco Opera as Joe in the world premiere production of Jake Heggie’s "Dead Man Walking" caused a sensation.

To conclude the 2003 season of "Don Giovanni", Jeffrey Black returns to a role he created when this production first premiered. When he sang the role in Melbourne earlier this year, "The Australian" said “Jeffrey Black is a fine, incisive Don. He catches every nuance within the character, with all of its swagger and authority offsetting his meanness and deceit, and the enduring, often pathetic sexual performance.”

Making his Opera Australia debut as Leporello is 26-year-old New Zealand born Samoan baritone Jonathan Lemalu. He shares the role with Stephen Bennett who takes over for the final four performances, his first appearance with Opera Australia since 2000.

Jonathan Lemalu, having only recently graduated from the Royal College of Musicis one of the most exciting singers of his generation and his biography already reads like that of a much more experienced singer. He has already released his first recording (an album of songs by Brahms, Faure, Finzi and Schubert) of which The Times in London said “…an enormous voice, of cavernous resonance and silken tone…it is clear he is destined for great things.” The same newspaper proclaimed that he “exuded star quality” in his first performance of Leporello in a Royal College of Music production.

Appearing as the three women the Don tries to seduce are Rosamund Illing and Miriam Gordon-Stewart, who share the role of Donna Anna, Anke Höppner and Lisa Russell who appear as Donna Elvira and Ali McGregor as the peasant girl Zerlina.

When Rosamund Illing sang Donna Anna in Melbourne earlier this year, "The Age" said “Illing’s voice has the fierce, shimmering beauty of crystal. She makes a passionate, guilt-ridden heroine who articulates the difficult arias as accurately as a diamond cutter.”
In the same review Anke Höppner’s Donna Elvira was described as “dramatically vivid” and Ali McGregor’s Zerlina was “as fresh as a May maiden with a pretty voice and a pretty manner.”

For the final four performances of the season Miriam Gordon-Stewart and Lisa Russell make their role debuts as Donna Anna and Donna Elvira respectively.

Making his role debut as Donna Anna’s lover Don Ottavio, is Korean-born tenor Jaewoo Kim who has recently received rave reviews for his appearances as Ferrando in "Cosi fan tutte" and as Beppe in the "2002 Sydney Winter Season" of Andrew Sinclair’s new production of Pagliacci.

Completing the cast are Richard Alexander and Richard Anderson who share the role of Zerlina’s betrothed Masetto and Arend Baumann and Donald Shanks who share the role of Donna Anna’s father, the ill-fated Commendatore.

Richard Alexander’s portrayal of Masetto during the "2002 Melbourne Autumn" season was described by "The Age" as “masculine” and “bullish”. Currently a member of the Opera AustraliaChorus, Richard Anderson who in 2003 will be part of the Moffatt Oxenbould Young Artists’ Development Program, will make his debut in the role.

The opera begins with Don Giovanni’s escape from Donna Anna’s bedroom, pursued by her father, the Commendatore, brandishing a sword. Giovanni kills the Commendatore in a duel and escapes. Donna Anna swears revenge. Don Giovanni then tries to seduce the peasant girl Zerlina. He seems on the verge of success when one of his old flames, Donna Elvira, arrives to warn her off. Zerlina’s fiancée Masetto is not too impressed, either. The Don throws a party for the peasants, at which Donna Elvira, Donna Anna and her betrothed Don Ottavio appear in disguise. They catch Don Giovanni attempting once again to woo Zerlina, and swear vengeance.

By disguising himself as Leporello, the Don manages to escape his pursuers. Hiding out in a cemetery, he hears a mysterious voice threaten him. He sees that it is the statue of the Commendatore, which carries an inscription saying he waits to be avenged. Don Giovanni invites the statue to dinner; unpalatable consequences await him.

Conductor – Simone Young
– Simon Kenway (from 5 February)
Original Production
– Göran Järvefelt
Rehearsed by
– Matthew Barclay
Designer – Carl Friedrich Oberle
Lighting Designer
– Nigel Levings
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Don Giovanni
– Teddy Tahu Rhodes
-- Jeffrey Black (from 12 March)
Leporello
– Jonathan Lemalu
-- Stephen Bennett (from 12 March)
Donna Anna
– Rosamund Illing
-- Miriam Gordon-Stewart
(from 12 March)
Donna Elvira
– Anke Höppner
-- Lisa Russell (from 12 March)
Don Ottavio
– Jaewoo Kim
Masetto
– Richard Alexander
-- Richard Anderson (from 12 March)
Zerlina
– Ali McGregor
Commendatore
– Arend Baumann
-- Donald Shanks (from 18 January)
Sung in Italian with English surtitles
Duration: 3 hours including one 20-minute interval

Proudly sponsored by the

Opera Theatre
Sydney Opera House
Bennelong Point Sydney

Performances dates:
Jan 2, 4, 7, 10, 14, 18, 21, 23, 29
February 5
March 12, 15 mat, 19, 22

Performance times:
Evenings at 7.30pm and matinee at 1pm

Marconi Opera Talks
Jan 7, 18, 23
45 minutes before each performance

Single tickets available from $44 to 195*
Concession tickets available from $44 to $179*
*Denotes GST inclusive (where applicable)

A children’s price of $35 per ticket is available for matinee performances (conditions apply)

Bookings:
Opera Australia Ticket Services
Tel: 02 9318 8200
Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm
Sydney Opera House
Tel: 02 9250 7777
Monday – Saturday9.00am – 8.30pm

Further information:
www.opera-australia.org.au