Ivo Van Hove Takes On Mozart

The ever-enduring Don Giovanni returns to the Metropolitan Opera in Tony winner Ivo Van Hove's stark staging. Mozart's libertine philanderer is plunged into an abstract architectural landscape, where his story of unavenged justice plays out. Yannick Nezet-Seguin steps up to the podium to conduct Ryan Speedo Green in his Met debut as the unrepentant nobleman.

What Is The Story of Don Giovanni?

This opera is remarkably timely given its original setting in feudal Europe prior to the French Revolution, where crimes committed by the rich and powerful go unpunished. Don Giovanni, a notorious lech, and rapist, attempts to carry off the virginal Donna Anna against her will and kills her elderly father in cold blood after he is caught. However, Giovanni escapes with his identity hidden by a mask, and Donna Anna is filled with a lust for vengeance against the masked attacker, and even spurns the advances of the kind Ottavio who truly cares for her.

Giovanni carries on as usual, even trying to seduce and attack a bride on her wedding night, and beating up her new husband. Things come to a head, however, when Anna recognizes the voice of her attacker as that of Giovanni, and begs Ottavio to avenge her. Proud, arrogant, and cruel to the last, Giovanni is confronted by the specter of Anna's father who asks him to repent; he refuses and is consumed by flames and sent to hell. The entire party gathers and ruminates on Giovanni's now-cursed fate.