STORY AND LINKS: L.A. Phil finalizes cast, creative team for "Don Giovanni"

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

One of the more intriguing Los Angeles Philharmonic programs this spring will be the staging of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, the first of what is envisioned as a three-year cycle of operas composed by Mozart to librettos by Lorenzo da Ponte that will be presented by the Phil in Walt Disney Concert Hall (the other two are The Marriage of Figaro and Cosí Fan Tutte).

Exactly how the orchestra’s creative teams will make this happen in an auditorium that has no proscenium nor installed apparatus for scenery remains to be scene but the Don Giovanni team is now fully in place.

As announced earlier, Frank Gehry — architect of Disney Hall and other iconic buildings worldwide — is designing the sets and LAPO Music Director Gustavo Dudamel will conduct. Kate and Laura Mulleavy — founders of their fashion house, Rodarte — will make their operatic debut designing the costumes, while noted director Christopher Alden will oversee the proceedings.

The cast will be headed by Marius Kwiecien in the title role and is scheduled to include Kevin Burdette as Leporello, Carmela Remigio (Donna Anna), Aga Mikolaj (Donna Elvira), Pavlo Breslik (Don Ottavio), Anna Probaska (Zerlina), Ryan Kuster (Masetto) and Stefan Kocan (Commendatore).

Performances will take place on May 18, 20, 24 and 26. Complicating matters somewhat from a scheduling perspective is that Dudamel and the Phil will interleave a concert of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 on May 25 and will come back with those pieces plus Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 on May 27.

Information: www.laphil.com
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.