Go big or go home: an ambitious Don Giovanni staged by the Los Angeles Philharmonic

It was not your average Sunday afternoon at Walt Disney Disney Concert Hall.  Gustavo Dudamel was still on the podium for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s unofficial Mozart Month, but that was pretty much where “business as usual” ended.  The LA Phil had decided that their first-ever complete performances of Don Giovanni would be full-blown productions, not mere stand-and-sing concert versions of Mozart’s opera.

As if that weren’t enough, they:

• hired Frank Gehry, the designer of Disney Hall and most famous living architect on the planet,  to create the setting
• populated it with a young, attractive, and vocally strong cast led by Mariusz Kwiecien, one of the most prominent Dons currently around
• dressed them in costumes designed by Kate and Laura Mulleavy of the noteworthy Los Angeles fashion house, Rodarte
• handed the whole thing over to Christopher Alden, a director known locally for interesting operatic interpretations

The result was high in style and substance, sounding very good and looking stunning.  It wasn’t a complete triumph, with some aspects which were quirky and frustrating, but you had to appreciate and be impressed by the overall effort. Read more of this post