Mozart’s most mysterious work has been both enchanting and puzzling audiences for more than 200 years. Director András Hábetler has put a twist on traditional productions of the piece by setting it in the decadent world of the 1920s, with legerdemain and magic tricks making Mozart’s best-known opera even more riveting.
Although it was 233 years ago when Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart premièred his two-act opera Don Giovanni in Prague, the Don Juan theme itself has been around for a good four centuries, and dozens of writers have attempted to create their own treatments of it. The most lasting and outstanding one of them all, however, remains Lorenzo Da Ponte’s libretto combined with the music of Mozart. Even though the original plot is already full of unimaginably unexpected turns, András Hábetler, the director of this fully staged production, has given it an additional twist, setting the opera in the decadent world of the 1920s. And in case anyone craves more than the abundant unscrupulous deeds, lies and tricks of the world of Don Giovanni, there will also be true legerdemain in the form of magic tricks taught by Anikó Ungár to add colour to the production. Conducting the outstanding soloists and the Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok will be Guido Mancusi.
