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Toronto – One of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s most powerful and brilliant operas is transformed into a spectacle for the senses and a deeply thought-provoking experience in the Canadian Opera Company’s winter production of Don Giovanni. The twisted comedic masterpiece thrusts audiences into the darkly glamorous world of entitled aristocracy, where the womanizing title character has grown used to getting away with murder–that is, until his latest seduction spirals out of control and leads to an actual murder, setting off a supernatural chain of events that sees karma come calling. Don Giovanni runs for seven performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on February 2, 4, 7, 9, 15, 17, and 24, 2024.

DRAMATIC DESCENT INTO CHAOS

British director Amy Lane is widely known for her thoughtful and innovative approach to staging classic operas. As associate director in Toronto, Lane takes over the creative reins from the production’s original director, Kasper Holten, offering a nuanced glimpse inside the chaotic mind of one of opera’s most notorious predators. Award-winning set designer Es Devlin has worked with some of the entertainment industry’s biggest stars, from Beyoncé to U2 and, here, she has created an Escher-like web of revolving rooms that emulates the title character’s spiralling descent. Eye-popping video projections from Luke Halls and projection associate Gareth Shelton combine with vivid colour from revival lighting designer John-Paul Percox, based on the original concept from Bruno Poet, to infuse the stage with both drama and dread as the story progresses.

Don Giovanni is the second of Mozart’s enormously successful collaborations with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. Its score is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time and its dramatic pull featuring prominently in the Oscar-winning film Amadeus, as well as the television drama Hannibal. COC Music Director Johannes Debus expertly leads the COC Orchestra through the opera’s thrilling musical complexities, with Price Family Chorus Master Sandra Horst leading the Dora Award-winning COC Chorus.

A SUPERB CAST OF INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED VOICES

Canadian bass-baritone Gordon Bintner returns to the COC as Don Giovanni, following his leading role last winter in the company’s “sublime” (NEXT) production of The Marriage of Figaro. Bintner has been a rising star on the international stage in recent years and he is joined by two renowned sopranos making their COC debuts: Mané Galoyan of Armenia, bringing her “radiant presence” (The Guardian) to the role of the Commendatore’s daughter, Donna Anna, and Anita Hartig of Romania, who brings her “superb dramatic instincts” (New York Classical Review) to the role of Donna Elvira.

The opera features two additional Ensemble Studio graduates, with award-winning mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh singing Zerlina, and bass-baritone Joel Allison taking on the role of her fiance, Masetto. American tenor Ben Bliss returns to Toronto as Donna Anna’s fiancé Don Ottavio, following his last appearance “at his lyric best” (Toronto Star) in the COC’s Cosi fan tutte (2019). Italian bass-baritone Paolo Bordogna, “one of the most esteemed specialists in the buffo/comic repertoire,” (OperaWire) makes a COC debut as Leporello, servant and sidekick to Don Giovanni and American bass David Leigh completes the cast as the retired army general, the Commendatore.

Don Giovanni is sung in Italian and presented by the COC with English SURTITLES™.

Don Giovanni is a co-production of Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Gran Theatre del Licieu; The Israeli Opera; and Houston Grand Opera.

Cast and Creative Team

Don Giovanni	Gordon Bintner
Donna Anna	Mané  Galoyan
Donna Elvira	Anita Hartig
Zerlina	Simone McIntosh
Don Ottavio	Ben Bliss
Leporello	Paolo Bordogna
Masetto	Joel Allison
Commendatore	David Leigh
Conductor	Johannes Debus
Director	Kasper Holten
Associate Director	Amy Lane
Set Designer	Es Devlin
Costume Designer	Anja Kragh
Original Lighting Designer	Bruno Poet
Revival Lighting Designer	John-Paul Percox
Projection Designer	Luke Halls
Projection Associate	Gareth Shelton
Original Movement Director	Signe Fabricius
Revival Movement Director	Anna-Marie Sullivan
Fight/Intimacy Coordinator	Siobhan Richardson
Price Family Chorus Master	Sandra Horst
Stage Manager	Jenifer Kowal
With the COC Orchestra and COC Chorus

TICKET INFORMATION

Single tickets for Don Giovanni range from $35 – $250 for adults, with Grand Ring seats available at $290 and $350, and $22 tickets available for guests between the ages of 16 and 29 through the COC’s Opera Under 30 program. Tickets can be purchased online at coc.ca or by calling the Four Seasons Centre Box Office at 416-363-8231. For more information on booking student groups, standing room, and rush tickets, as well as other specially priced tickets available to young people under the age of 15, please visit coc.ca.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Season Sponsor: BMO Financial Group

Gordon Bintner is generously sponsored by Janet Stubbs

Johannes Debus is generously sponsored by George & Kathy Dembrowski.

Sandra Horst and the COC Chorus are generously underwritten by Tim & Frances Price.

The COC Orchestra is generously sponsored, in part, by W. Bruce C. Bailey, in honour of Christie Darville, COC Deputy General Director, and Johannes Debus, COC Music Director, and, in part, by The Schulich Foundation.

Thank you to the entire COC community, including our COC Board of Directors, our Corporate Sponsors and Foundation Supporters, generous public funders, union partners, and — most critically — our audience. Your inspiring support ensures that opera flourishes, uniting global audiences and paving the way for a vibrant future.


ABOUT THE CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY
Based in Toronto, the Canadian Opera Company is the largest producer of opera in Canada and one of the largest in North America. General Director Perryn Leech joined the company in 2021, forming a leadership team with Music Director Johannes Debus and Deputy General Director Christie Darville. The COC enjoys a loyal audience, including a dedicated base of subscribers, and has an international reputation for artistic excellence and creative innovation. Its diverse repertoire includes new commissions and productions, local and international collaborations with leading opera companies and festivals, and attracts the world’s foremost Canadian and international artists. The company is an incubator for the future of the art form, nurturing Canada’s new wave of opera performers and creators with customized training and support. The COC’s purpose-built opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, is hailed internationally as one of the finest in the world. For more information, visit coc.ca. 

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For more information, please contact: 
Avril Sequeira, Director of Public Relations, email: [email protected]
Davin Leivonen-Fok, Communications Coordinator, email: [email protected]