Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera, replete with love, passion and machinations, is to be restaged at the Estates Theatre from 9 to 31 August 2018. The audience will have the opportunity to see the production revived in the previous season in Prague by Plácido Domingo in two gala performances marking the 230th anniversary of Don Giovanni’s world premiere at the Estates Theatre. The cast includes soloists of the National Theatre Opera and the State Opera, accompanied by the State Opera Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Richard Hein and Jiří Štrunc.
The production of Don Giovanni is not only a tribute to Mozart himself, it also pays homage to two great figures of Czech and global theatre history – the stage director Václav Kašlík and the set designer Josef Svoboda, who created it in 1969. The director Jiří Nekvasil, the set designer Daniel Dvořák and the costume designer Theodor Pištěk revived the production in 2006.
The scenography is its most distinct facet, inventively involving the architectonic components of the Estates Theatre’s auditorium, with the proscenium boxes forming an extension of the stage, and thus capitalising on the precious fact that it was the very venue that hosted the world premiere of the “Opera of Operas”. The first night took place at the Estates Theatre on 29 October 1787, conducted by the composer himself. The preparations for the world premiere of Don Giovanni in Prague are shrouded in numerous myths. Legend has it that Mozart only composed the Overture during the night prior to the opening and that he presented to the musicians sheets with their parts on which the ink was still wet … For various reasons, the first performance had to be postponed several times, yet everything ultimately turned out well. On 4 November, Mozart reported from Prague that his opera Don Giovanni had been staged on 29 October to great acclaim and that he wished his friends could
have shared his joy.
The opera is performed in the original Italian, with Czech and English surtitles.
Duration: 3 hours
Tickets are on sale at the National Theatre box offices and online here: