After Die Zauberflöte and Le Nozze di Figaro, a third production of the NCPA based on Mozart’s classic opera will premiere on November 27th to December 1st. The music will be performed in strict accordance with the “original musical score”(Bärenreiter's version) to make this opera as “avant-garde” as it used to be at birth in homage to the classic.
Vittorio Prato, Yannis Kokkos, ZHAO Tiechun, LÜ Jia and ZHANG Yang (left to right) co-interpreted the NCPA production of Don Giovanni.
On November 8
th, a press conference was held for this opera at the NCPA, where highlights of this production were co-interpreted by Vice President of the NCPA ZHAO Tiechun, Music Director of the NCPA LÜ Jia, who will take the baton, Stage Director, Set Designer and Costume Director Yannis Kokkos, and Don Giovanni portrayers—Vittorio Prato and ZHANG Yang.
Despite many popular arias and ensembles in it, Don Giovanni is not easy to “produce or appreciate” due to massive recitatives, complicated plots, intricate character relationships and frequent scene changes. Vice President ZHAO Tiechun said, “Not until after leading the audience into Mozart’s palace of opera by way of Die Zauberflöte and Le Nozze di Figaro did NCPA start producing high-challenge Don Giovanni from the beginner to the enthusiast for the audience. IThe production team and lead performers overcame difficult problems one by one in a bid to show the audience a melodious, attractive and highly aesthetic version of Don Giovanni.”
Music Director of the NCPA LÜ Jia was the first Chinese conductor to serve as music director and principal conductor of an opera house in Italy, the hometown of opera. The Chinese and foreign singers, NCPA Chorus and China NCPA Orchestra will bring out the best in the music according to the musical score of Vienna’s
Don Giovanni published by Bärenreiter.
A group photo of Yannis Kokkos and divas in Don Giovanni.
Master director and set designer Yannis Kokkos, who won the Laurence Olivier Award and Moliere Awards, has joined the NCPA production again after Lucia di Lammermoor. In Kokkos’ view, Mozart’s Don Giovanni focuses on the atricality rather than characters’ psychological activities, and this practice was avant-garde in Mozart’s time.
Yannis Kokkos also exerts himself to restore the opera’s “avant-garde” in homage to the classic. He seeks a balance between comedy and tragedy, and builds rich dramatic scenes on the seemingly rustic stage by simplifying whatever is complicated.
Vittorio Prato and ZHANG Yang will share the title role.
Italian baritone Vittorio Prato and the NCPA resident singer ZHANG Yang will challenge this role separately. Active in classical operas, Prato has performed amazingly in many world-famous theatres. ZHANG Yang has turned down invitations to all performances but the NCPA Exchange Performance in Russia since he accepted the task of playing Don Giovanni half a year ago, and dived into character Don Giovanni, as well as the music with the aim of rendering this character, a “pleasing but disagreeable” playboy, to the life.
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