Tour Dates: 29 Sep - 1 Oct, 2010

“Mozart's Don Giovanni is a work without blemish, of uninterrupted perfection.”
  - Charles Gounod 

Don Giovanni
The Plot
Uwe Eric Laufenberg
Reviews

Don Giovanni

‘In Italy it was 46, in Germany 230, 100 in France, in Turkey 91, but in Spain – in Spain Don Giovanni conquered 1003 women!’ (Don Giovanni, Mozart)

Over three evenings at Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts, operagoer can experience Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, based on the literary figure of the seducer of women Don Juan, under the direction of Markus Stenz, in a production by Uwe Eric Laufenberg. With its top-flight cast and the Gürzenich Orchestra Köln as its orchestra, this guest performance promises to contribute significantly to worldwide cultural exchange.

Don Giovanni, the legendary nobleman and the greatest seducer of all times, loves women. Not individual women, no, he loves all women, across all the social strata, and regardless of whether they belong to another.

A burlesque by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, telling the tale of a ‘womanizer’ and his thirst for pleasure, presenting to the audiences the enduring themes of guilt, regret, love and death.

The music is as dramatic as it is riveting: from the seductive duet ‘Lá ci darem la mano’ to the remarkable ensemble piece when Don Giovanni’s ‘victims’ join forces to create an ‘ensemble of revenge’ – the situation’s theatrics reveal themselves to audience members through the music itself.

The plot

Don Giovanni wants to seduce Donna Anna. He has already cast his spell on countless women in the past, and his servant Leporello was always a helpful accomplice. The difficulties for Don Giovanni – that ultimately end in his condemnation to hell – begin when he kills Donna Anna’s father, the Commander, during an unexpected duel.

He shows no remorse for the murder, or for any of his other deeds. Don Giovanni scoffs at his deserted former lover Donna Elvira, shamelessly takes advantage of his servant Leporello, and during the wedding of farmer's daughter Zerlina he attempts to sway the bride to his amorous advances.  Don Giovanni places himself above all principles, moral and religious alike but his deeds would not go unpunished.

Uwe Eric Laufenberg

Born in Cologne, Uwe Eric Laufenberg studied acting at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen. From 1985 until 1990 he was an actor at the Frankfurt Theater, where he debuted as a director in 1988.  Amongst his impressive resume of his career, Laufenberg was involved in various world acclaimed theatres such as Deutsche Theater Berlin, Residenztheater Munich, Burgtheater Vienna, the Vienna Volksoper, the Hamburg Staatsoper, the Dresden Semperoper and many more. His production of Der Rosenkavalier was recorded in 2007 at a guest performance in Tokyo. From 2004 to 2009 he was artistic director of the Potsdam Hans Otto Theater. He has been artistic director of the Cologne Opera since the beginning of the 2009/2010 season.

Reviews

“The music is memorable, dramatic and enjoyable: from the seductive solo voices of the famous ‘Là ci darem la mano’ to the fabulous ensemble as Don Giovanni’s infatuated conquests, vengeful victims and their outraged relatives join forces for justice.”
- ROY PROCTOR, March 2010

For further information please contact:

Ms. Qian Hoehne
Project Coordinator
Wu Promotion Co., Ltd

Tel: +86 10 5165 0798 ext. 32
Fax: +86 10 8441 7135
Mob: +86 139 1141 7135
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