{"id":64337,"date":"2019-11-01T10:57:58","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T14:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=64337"},"modified":"2019-11-02T12:23:30","modified_gmt":"2019-11-02T16:23:30","slug":"scrutiny-opera-atelier-launches-new-season-sumptuous-don-giovanni-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2019\/11\/01\/scrutiny-opera-atelier-launches-new-season-sumptuous-don-giovanni-revival\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Opera Atelier Launches New Season With Sumptuous Don Giovanni Revival"},"content":{"rendered":"

A terrific cast and a production that finds Opera Atelier at its most iconic and visually alluring make for an enormously enjoyable Don Giovanni.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Douglas
Douglas Williams in the title role of Opera Atelier’s ‘Don Giovanni’ (Photo : Bruce Zinger)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meghan Lindsay (Donna Anna); Carla Huhtanen (Donna Elvira); Mireille Asselin (Zerlina); Douglas Williams (Don Giovanni); Stephen Hegedus (Leporello); Colin Ainsworth (Don Ottavio); Olivier Laquerre (Masetto); Gustav Andreassen (Commendatore); Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chorus, David Fallis, conductor; Marshall Pynkoski, director. Ed MIrvish Theatre, October 31, 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n

D<\/span>on Giovanni<\/em>, one of three Da Ponte Operas by Mozart \u2014 the others being Le nozze di Figaro<\/em> and Cosi fan tutte<\/em> \u2014 is part of the core repertoire in opera houses around the world. Based on performance statistics (2004-2018), it is #7 in popularity among the thousands of operas in existence, having received 6,292 performances in 1,203 productions the last 15 years. It\u2019s Mozart\u2019s take on the Don Juan legend, and contains some of his most inspired music, framed by a deadly serious story dressed up as a comedy. What\u2019s not to love?<\/p>\n

This opera is certainly a staple at Opera Atelier. By my count, since its first appearance at OA in 1996, the current revival is its fifth, not counting two separate tours, to Japan (2000) and Korea (2003). The current production is a revival of the sumptuous production first seen in 2011. The sets by Gerard Gauci and costumes by the late Martha Mann represent OA at its most iconic and visually alluring \u2014 it ranks as one of the Company\u2019s handsomest productions.<\/p>\n

\"The
The cast of Opera Atelier\u2019s Don Giovanni with Artists of the Atelier Ballet (Photo : Bruce Zinger)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T<\/span>his time around, the venue has changed from the Elgin to the Ed Mirvish Theatre. While the stage is now larger and the theatre is lovely to look at, the acoustics haven\u2019t improved much. Like the Elgin, the sound is on the dry side and lacks bloom, necessary for typically unamplified shows like opera performances. The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra musicians have to squeeze into a tiny space that\u2019s a poor excuse for an orchestra pit. No matter, the sounds they made are still lovely, under the baton of conductor David Fallis.<\/p>\n

OA has assembled a terrific cast. Seen in the brief role of Neptune in Idomeneo<\/em> last season, American bass-baritone Douglas Williams returned to take on the much meatier Don Giovanni, singing with pleasing sound and acting with masculine swagger, exuding sex appeal and embodying the archetypal rogue. Stephen Hegedus, with his equally agile and beautiful baritone and great acting chops, proved the perfect foil for Williams, the two of them looked sufficiently alike that a mistaken identity could be believable \u2014 for 18th century folks!<\/p>\n

Tenor Colin Ainsworth brought elegance \u2014 both in voice and appearance \u2014 to Don Ottavio. Vocally he sang \u201cDalla sua pace\u201d well, although the da capo section was so quiet, coupled with his soft grained voice, it was almost too soft. And sadly, his showpiece \u201cIl mio Tesoro\u201d was cut. Olivier Laquerre, a stalwart OA artist, has transitioned from Leporello to Masetto, acting up a storm while vocally sounding a bit understated. Gustav Andreassen made a welcome return to OA as the Commendatore, seizing his all-too-brief moments in the sun.<\/p>\n

\"Colin
Colin Ainsworth as Don Ottavio supporting Meghan Lindsay as Donna Anna with Gustav Andreassen as Commendatore and Artists of Atelier Ballet (Photo : Bruce Zinger)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T<\/span>he women were strong in every way. Meghan Lindsay has the vocal chops for an excellent Anna, so it was a shame that she didn\u2019t get to show off with \u201cNon mi dir.\u201d The same can be said for the fine Elvira of Carla Huhtanen, whose big showpiece, \u201cMi tradi\u201d was cut. I understand this is a very long opera, and in the earlier Prague version, the Ottavio and Elvira arias had not yet been composed. But to cut Anna\u2019s aria? Losing three of the biggest hits in the opera is too much. We\u2019ll never know how these three fine artists will tackle their showstoppers. As Zerlina, Mireille Asselin\u2019s music was essentially unscathed, and she was wonderful, singing her \u201cBatti batti\u201d and \u201cVedrai carino\u201d beautifully.<\/p>\n

As is typical of Marshall Pynkoski\u2019s direction, this is a very physical production, with the soloists \u2014 and everyone else! \u2014 getting a huge workout. The aesthetic of OA is to not just sing well but to be easy on the eye, and this show is a prime example. Youthful, good-looking cast in lovely costumes by Martha Mann. The staging of the d\u00e9nouement, the final encounter of Don Giovanni and the Commendatore, was extremely effective, a fitting highlight of the evening. There you have it \u2014 I wished the cuts weren\u2019t there, but it is what it is, and I still enjoyed it enormously.<\/p>\n

Four more performances to November 9th. Details here<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on classical music and opera news and reviews? Follow us\u00a0on <\/em>Facebook<\/b><\/a><\/em><\/span>, <\/em>Instagram<\/b><\/a><\/em> <\/b><\/span>or <\/em>Twitter<\/b><\/a><\/em><\/span> for all the latest.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A terrific cast and a production that finds Opera Atelier at its most iconic and visually alluring make for an enormously enjoyable Don Giovanni.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":64342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25164,43,52,4951],"tags":[31193,1067,2494,3224],"yst_prominent_words":[32528,32526,32525,32523,32529,32527,13112,16136,8138,32530,9070,20625,32519,32515,9082,32522,32521,13110,13109,6604],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/11\/OA-Don-Giovanni-header.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-gJH","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64337"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64352,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64337\/revisions\/64352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64337"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=64337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}