We'll hear this year's production of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" recorded on September 24, 2025. Ryan Speedo Green is featured in the title role with Adam Plachetka as Leporello. We'll also hear from Federica Lombardi (Donna Anna), Janai Brugger (Donna Elvira), Ben Bliss (Don Ottavio), Hera Hyesang Park (Zerlina), William Guanbo Su (Masetto), and Adam Palka (Commendatore). Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.
One of Mozart's most popular operas, this take on the Don Juan story was heard for the first time in Prague in 1787. Aided by his ingenious librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart approached the work from a point of view that is neither tragic nor entirely comic, but rather lighthearted, urbane, and ironic. We follow the title character and his earthy comic sidekick, Leporello, through a series of encounters that begins with a fatal duel, moves back and forth between the humorous and the sentimental, and ends with the protagonist being dragged down to hell.
While Mozart died in 1791, Lorenzo Da Ponte (who also collaborated with Mozart on "Le Nozze di Figaro" and "Così fan tutte") lived until 1838. After an adventurous life in Venice and Vienna, he emigrated to America where he served as the first professor of Italian at New York’s Columbia College (now University).
Join us for "Don Giovanni" - Saturday (4/11) afternoon at 1:00 here on Blue Lake Public Radio.
