Mozart’s Don Giovanni
Peter Mattei, Malin Byström, Andrew Staples and other world-famous soloists join the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and members of the Swedish Radio Choir in Berwaldhallen in this unique staging of Mozart’s famous opera. Don Giovanni is a beloved staple of the operatic repertoire that has inspired generations of composers, writers and philosophers. The opera’s light-hearted elements are tempered by sorrow, drama and – in the unforgettable finale – supernatural horror.
The performance is broadcast on Berwaldhallen Play
It was recorded in Berwaldhallen without an audience on June 13, 2020.
In partnership with Medici TV.
“In this staging of Don Giovanni, we explore the darker side of a reliance on screens and the remote image. In this world, Don Giovanni desires to capture and curate the moment of seduction. As with an addiction, he is compelled to repeat and refine these methods with as many people as he can.”
Thus, Andrew Staples describes the setup of this version of Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte’s masterpiece. Staples not only sings Don Ottavio, but also directs the opera. The staging has been developed in close collaboration with costume designer Helle Carlsson and set designer Bengt Gomér. “This production will be a triumph of collaboration”, says Staples. The opera has been adapted to not only the conditions of Berwaldhallen, but also those of our current situation.
In the 17th century, Spanish playwright and poet Tirso de Molina published The Seducer of Seville and the Stone Guest, the earliest dramatization of the story of Don Juan, as he was originally called. De Molina wrote hundreds of plays, while simultaneously serving as a Roman Catholic monk.
De Molina portrays Don Juan as an egoistic, morally corrupt libertine. He does not hesitate to cheat and deceive people; even commit murder, in order to satisfy his desires. Don Juan captivates and seduces, but when the spell is broken, he makes enemies of everyone around him. “The characters are drawn to him against their better judgment,” Andrew Staples says. “He exerts a gravitational pull on those around him.”
Today, it is hard not to draw parallels between the fictional character and real sexual offenders. In a post-me too world, we cannot ignore that real-life Don Juans walk among us, and even if reality catches up with some of them, many peoples’ experiences are never revealed.
Additionally, Don Juan – the charismatic, unrepentant conqueror – could paradoxically be turned into a sort of idol by men who feel disregarded, unwanted, that they drew a blank in life. Security services in many countries caution against the growing, online-based incel culture where misogyny and glorification of violence has supplanted valuable support groups and constructive advice for lonely and frustrated men.
In a world where the assertive, physically attractive, popular man remains an ideal, idolising a character like Don Juan is appealing. However, that includes turning a blind eye to the fact that his apparent prosperity is just that – an apparition.
Here, Don Giovanni is told as a socially distanced, up-to-date drama. Characters as well as performers are separated, figuratively and literally, by screens on stage. However, physical distance does little to relieve our psychological vulnerability. On the contrary, many suffer daily at the hands of people who express and execute hideous offenses under the internet’s perceived veil of anonymity.
Andrew Staples continues: “We have imagined a world similar to the one we currently live in, where the characters maintain physical distance and satisfy their craving for intimacy and validation through their proximity to technology and its many screens.”
Don Giovanni is regarded as one of Mozart’s finest achievements. It is one of the most performed operas worldwide and the soloists performing here in Berwaldhallen have sung their roles several times before. Daniel Harding has also conducted the opera before, including at the renowned Festival d’Aix-en-Provence where Peter Mattei sung the title role, as he does here in Berwaldhallen.
Mozart classified Don Giovanni as an “opera buffa”, a genre characterized by comical scenes and roles in identifiable, everyday situations, as opposed to “opera seria” which generally treats historical or mythological topics. Looking at it today, perhaps Don Giovanni is something in-between. Rather than undermining the gravity of the plot, the lightness of the music can potentially amplify the tragic and horrific elements, not unlike a thriller or horror film. Andrew Staples describes the opera as complicated and ambiguous and that today, more than ever, it is worth hearing – and discussing.
David Saulesco
Participants
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a multiple-award-winning ensemble renowned for its high artistic standard and stylistic breadth, as well as collaborations with the world’s finest composers, conductors, and soloists. It regularly tours all over Europe and the world and has an extensive and acclaimed recording catalogue.
Daniel Harding has been Music Director of the SRSO since 2007, and since 2019 also its Artistic Director. His tenure will last throughout the 2024/2025 season. Two of the orchestra’s former chief conductors, Herbert Blomstedt and Esa-Pekka Salonen, have since been named Conductors Laureate, and continue to perform regularly with the orchestra.
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performs at Berwaldhallen, concert hall of the Swedish Radio, and is a cornerstone of Swedish public service broadcasting. Its concerts are heard weekly on the Swedish classical radio P2 and regularly on national public television SVT. Several concerts are also streamed on-demand on Berwaldhallen Play and broadcast globally through the EBU.
Daniel Harding is Music and Artistic Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, with whom in 2022 he celebrated his 15-year anniversary. In the 2014/2015 season, he devised and curated the celebrated Interplay Festival, featuring concerts and related inspirational talks with renowned artists and academics. As Artistic Director, he continues this type of influential programming. Harding is also Conductor Laureate of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with whom he has worked for over 20 years, and Music Director of Youth Music Culture, The Greater Bay Area in China. The 2024/2025 season will be his first as Music Director at the Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
Harding is a regular visitor to the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Staatskapelle Dresden and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala. In the US, he has appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and the San Francisco Symphony. A renowned opera conductor, he has led acclaimed productions at the Teatro alla Scala Milan, Wiener Staatsoper, Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, and at the Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg Festivals. He was Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris, the Anima Mundi festival of Pisa, and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Daniel Harding tours regularly with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, performing at prestigious venues all over Europe and the world, and has recorded several acclaimed and award-winning albums with the orchestra. His tenure as Music and Artistic Director will last throughout the 2024/2025 season. “It is increasingly rare that the relationship between a conductor and an orchestra not only lasts for more than a decade, but keeps growing,” he says about working with the orchestra.
In 2002, Harding was awarded the title Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government, and in 2017 nominated to the position Officier des Arts et des Lettres. In 2012, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. In 2021, he was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Daniel Harding grew up in Oxford, England, and played trumpet before taking up conducting in his late teens. He is also, since 2016, a qualified airline pilot.
Don Giovanni
Den svenske barytonen Peter Mattei fick sitt internationella genombrott i Peter Brooks produktion i Aix-en-Provence 1998 och har sedan dess haft glädjen och förmånen att få arbeta med flera av världens främsta dirigenter och regissörer på scener runtom Europa och U.S.A. Med sin signaturroll, Don Giovanni, har Mattei gjort bejublande framträdanden på scener som Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Kungliga Operan, Den Norske Opera, Scottish Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Staatsoper Berlin, Teatro alla Scala, Bayerische Staatsoper och Opernhaus Zürich. Mattei har även varit en återkommande gäst på Metropolitan Opera, där han synts i roller som Amfortas i Parsifal, Wolfram i Tannhäuser, titelrollerna i Eugen Onegin och Wozzeck, Figaro i Barberaren i Sevilla, Greven i Figaros bröllop, Marcello i La Bohème, Yeletsky i Pique Dame och Shishkov i From the House of the Dead.
Mattei är en eftersökt gäst på världens konsertscener och har framträtt med Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra och de ledande orkestrarna i Sverige och Norden, i verk som Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem, Sibelius Kullervo, Mahlers Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen och Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Bachs Matteuspassionen och Johannespassionen, samt Zemlinskys Lyrische Sinfonie. Han har sjungit under ledning av dirigenter såsom Sir Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Herbert Blomstedt, Daniel Harding, Jeffrey Tate, Riccardo Chailly, Antonio Pappano, Sir Andrew Davis, John Eliot Gardiner och Gustavo Dudamel.
Peter Mattei fick sin utbildning vid Kungliga Musikhögskolan i Stockholm och Operahögskolan i Stockholm och debuterade 1990 på Drottningholms Slottsteater som Nardo i La Finta Giardiniera. År 2004 utnämndes Peter Mattei till Hovsångare och han har belönats med H.M. Konungens medalj Litteris et Artibus för sina framstående konstnärliga insatser som operasångare. Han utsågs 2020 till Musical America Awards ”Vocalist of the year”.
Don Ottavio
Andrew Staples is an acclaimed and versatile singer who sings regularly with conductors such as Simon Rattle, Daniel Harding and Yannick Nézet-Séguin and orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniekr, Rotterdam Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra and Wiener Philharmoniker. He has made several lauded performances in Berwaldhallen, including Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Alan Gilbert during the Baltic Sea Festival 2019 and Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius conducted by Daniel Harding the same autumn.
In opera, he is a regular guest at the Royal Opera House in London where he has sung Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Flammand in Strauss’ Capriccio, Narraboth in Salome and Artabanes in Thomas Arne’s Artaxerxes. He is also a multifaceted director, from staging classics like Così fan tutte and La bohème in London to Handel’s Dido and Aeneas in a dance club with Kiez Oper in Berlin, as well as a production for the Choir of London interweaving Britten’s classic Hymn to St Cecilia with depositions from Palestinian detainees. He works closely with creative partner Sophie Hunter.
In December 2019, he made a strong debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Andres in Berg’s Wozzeck. A month later he was praised once again, when he on short notice was summoned for Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Gustavo Dudamel and the New York Philharmonic. He has recorded several large works such as John Adams’ Doctor Atomic, Edward Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius and Bohuslav Martinů’s The Epic of Gilgamesh.
Donna Anna
Mari Eriksmoen triumphed in her debut as Mélisande in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande in Jalet Cherkaoui’s acclaimed new staging for Opera Vlaanderen and Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg in 2018, conducted by Alejo Pérez. Other recent highlights include Servilia in Sam Brown’s new production of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at Theater an der Wien, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro at Den Norske Opera and Romilda in Handel’s Serse at Opéra de Rouen and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Concert highlights include Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Oslo Philharmonic and Jukka-Pekka Saraste.
Other career highlights include Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier for Den Norske Opera, Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Oper Frankfurt and, in a display of versatility, Waldvogel in Daniel Barenboim’s Ring Cycle at Teatro alla Scala. She is frequently invited to sing Solveig in Grieg’s Peer Gynt and has recorded both Schumann’s Scenen aus Goethes Faust with Daniel Harding, Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with both René Jacobs and Robin Ticciati as well as an acclaimed debut recital disc.
Donna Elvira
Malin Byström sang Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House in London in 2019, a role she has also sung at, for instance, the Metropolitan Opera. She has had recurring engagements at the Royal Opera House in roles including Hélène in Verdi’s Les Vêpres siciliennes, Mathilde in Rossini’s William Tell and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte.
At the Metropolitan Opera she has also sung Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust, Donna Elvira and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and the title role in Strauss’ Arabella. She has appeared at the Royal Swedish Opera as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, the title role in Giordano’s Fedora and Romilda in Handel’s Serse.
She has also performed at the Salzburg Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Gothenburg Opera and Grand Théâtre de Genève. On the concert stage she has performed several times with conductor Kurt Masur, she has sung Sibelius’ Kullervo with Eivind Gullberg Jensen and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with Herbert Blomstedt. In 2008 she received the Birgit Nilsson Award and in 2018 she was awarded Court Singer and named Female Singer of the Year at the International Opera Awards.
Masetto
Henning von Schulman was a member of the Royal Danish Opera’s ensemble between 2013 and 2017, singing roles including Leporello in Don Giovanni, the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro and Banco in Verdi’s Macbeth. In 2018, he sang Sparafucile in RIgoletto at the Malmö Opera, performed in an acclaimed rendition of Strauss’ Salome at the Salzburger Festspiele conducted by Franz Welser-Möst and the same autumn sang Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in Suntory Hall, Tokyo.
Following in the autumn of 2018, he made his debut at the Gothenburg Opera as Fasolt in Das Rheingold where he the year after sang the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro. He is also a frequently engaged Lied and oratorio singer: from Verdi’s Requiem, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella and Handel’s Messiah to Schubert’s Winterreise, Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death and Jacques Ibert’s Don Quichotte. He has won several awards, including first prize in the Otto Edelmann International Singing Competition in 2013 and the Birgit Nilsson Award in 2017.
Swedish soprano Johanna Wallroth was thrust into the limelight when she took First Prize at the prestigious Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition in 2019.
Initially training as a dancer at the Royal Swedish Ballet School, Wallroth subsequently focused her principal study on voice and went on to graduate from Vienna’s Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst (MDW). In 2013, Johanna Wallroth made her operatic debut as Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro under Arnold Östman at Ulriksdal Palace Theatre, Stockholm. Efter that she has regularly appeared on stages in Sweden and worldwide, for example as Despina in Cosi fan tutte at Schlosstheater Schönbrunn Wien and as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at Moscow’s Gnesin Academy. In the 19/20 season, Johanna made her role debut as Zerlin in Don Giovanni to great acclaim in a live-streamed semi-staged performance with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Music Director, Daniel Harding.
Already with an enviable experience on the concert platform, Johanna Wallroth has for example performed with Sakari Oramo at Helsinki Music Centre in Mahler, Symphony No 4 and Mozart, Requiem with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Barbara Hannigan. She was soloist on tour to Antwerp, Amsterdam, Dortmund, Köln, Hamburg and Luxembourg with Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Orchestra in Mahler, Symphony No 4.
The 2022/23 season opens with a debut at Sweden’s historic Drottningholm Festival as Leocasta in Vivaldi’s Il Giustino with the Drottningholm Theatre Orchestra under George Petrou, and sees her first appearance at Opernhaus Zürich in a ballet production choreographed by Christian Spück based on the Madrigals of Monteverdi and conducted by Christoph Koncz.
Named as Classical Artist in Residence for the 2022/23 season by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Johanna Wallroth joins the orchestra for several concerts across the season including Berg, Sieben frühe Lieder with Daniel Harding, Mozart arias with Martin Fröst and Schubert Mass in E-flat with Andràs Schiff.
Il Commendatore
Johan Schinkler has sung several of the great bass roles, especially at Folkoperan in Stockholm and the Gothenburg Opera. In Gothenburg, his roles include Daland in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer, the title role in Bartóks Bluebeard’s Castle, Il Commendatore and Masetto in Don Giovanni and Sarastro in Der Zauberflöte. At Folkoperan he has appeared as Leporello in Don Giovanni, the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro, Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust, Parsee Rustomjee and Krishna in Philip Glass’ Satyagraha and the title role in Wilhelm Kienzl’s Don Quixote, among others.
In the autumn of 2020 he returns to Folkoperan as Marke in Tristan und Isolde and in 2021 he will sing Sparafucile in Rigoletto at Opera Hedeland in Denmark. Other Wagner roles include Hagen in Götterdämmerung at the Latvian National Opera in Riga, Gurnemanz in Parsifal at Wermland Opera and Fafner in Das Rheingold at Dalhalla Opera. He has also sung Molokov in the Swedish version of the musical Chess, Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s St John Passion and is the Swedish voice of Mufasa in The Lion King, First Ancestor in Mulan and Ragnar in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
Programme
When the opera begins, Don Giovanni’s servant Leporello wishes he did not serve such a cruel, demanding master. He is keeping watch outside the house where Don Giovanni is attempting to seduce or rape the young Donna Anna. When she cries for help, Don Giovanni flees and murders her father, Il Commendatore, who tries to stop him. Donna Anna swears vengeance and her fiancé, Don Ottavio, promises to help her.
Later, Don Giovanni runs into one of his former conquests, Donna Elvira, and rejects her by having Leporello recount the thousands of women he has seduced. When Don Giovanni passes a peasant wedding, he tries to lure away the bride, Zerlina, but Donna Elvira interrupts him. Instead, he invites everyone to a wedding celebration at his home where he hopes he will be successful. At the party, Donna Anna and Don Ottavio confronts him together with the couple, Zerlina and Masetto. At gunpoint, Don Giovanni and Leporello runs away.
Leporello threatens to leave Don Giovanni, who calms him with an offer of money. Don Giovanni moves on to try to seduce Donna Elvira’s maid, exchanging clothes with Leporello, but is once more interrupted, this time by Masetto and his friends. They do not recognise him, so Don Giovanni takes the opportunity to trounce Masetto once his friends have left. Donna Elvira mistakes Leporello for her former lover and defends him when Donna Anna, Don Ottavio, Zerlina and Masetto surround him. Leporello is revealed, escapes, and the others realise they have been duped.
Don Giovanni and Leporello wander into a nearby graveyard, where they hear a threatening voice from beyond the grave. The voice comes from a statue of the murdered Commendatore. Don Giovanni scornfully invites the statue home for dinner. Back home, the statue suddenly appears among a throng of demons who drag Don Giovanni down to Hell. Freed of their tormentor, the others reflect on their experiences and what they will do next.
David Saulesco
Approximate duration: 3 hours
Director Andrew Staples
Set and Light Design Bengt Gomér
Costume Designer Helle Carlsson
Assistant Director Aurélie Ferrière
Projection Technician Ishai Mika, Per Rydnert, Anders Granström
Lighting Technician Rickard Gabrielsson
Host, Swedish Radio P2 Sara Norling
Recording Producer Jan B Larsson
Mixing Engineer Johan Hyttnäs
Broadcast Engineer Peter Flodby
Video Director Karl Thorson
Score Supervisor Aurélie Ferrière
Web Manager Ulrica Stjernqvist
Deputy Editor David Saulesco
Social media Editor Joar Plunger
Don Giovanni Surtitles © Jonathan Burton 2002, rev. 2019
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