Paolo Spadaro Munitto / Reviews

Salzburg born Gustav Kuhn and his team introduce Don Giovanni, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts dramma giocoso to the audience in their typical minimalistic and estetic style.They design this cruel, women condemning playboy as a sophisticated, elegent gentlemen. The stage remains rather empty. Some bands in dark brown colour are hanging down, somehow continuing the inner design of the festival hall. A big white ball in a square construction is overruling the center of the stage, its meaning is kept secret. Light gets important and dims the scenery in bright daylight, mystical evening or night. The story lacks action, malice and sexappeal and the terror of Don Giovanni appears like boyish escapades. Only his ends develops into a dramatic spectacles with fire when he is swollowed by open earth to death.

There is a moment near the end of Davide Livermore’s “Die Zauberflöte” at Muscat’s Royal Opera House of Musical Arts in which Tamino and Pamino must face the trials by fire and water with the magic flute in tow. But Livermore opts for a very different trial – the two lovers must come to terms with the death of their older selves in order to fully appreciate the love they have for each other. As staged, this moment features doubles of each character in older makeup to express these more mature forms. Both Tamino and Pamina of the present recognize these forms as each other but fail to notice the difference in age until they watch these beloved selves dying on the ground. It is a symbolic moment that opens up a great deal of questions about intention, especially given the context of the production’s origination in Oman. Is the final trial the realization for these characters that they are bound to one another until death do them part? Or is something else afoot? There’s no denying that the part engages intellectually and even emotionally, as the characters ultimately overcome the sadness of losing each other to find one another at the end, ready to live happily ever after.

Zagreb Classic open-air festival is truly an experience for all classical music lovers. First-class musicians from Croatia and worldwide will perform the best of classical music from 23 to 29 June for people from Zagreb and their guests on a unique stage under the stars on one of Zagreb’s most beautiful squares King Tomislav Square.