San Francisco Opera's New Production Of DON GIOVANNI Opens 2022 Summer Season, June 4

San Francisco Opera opens its 2022 Summer Season with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni from June 4-July 2 at the War Memorial Opera House. Director Michael Cavanagh's new production is the third and final chapter of San Francisco Opera's multi-year Mozart-Da Ponte Trilogy, presenting all three operatic collaborations by Mozart and poet Lorenzo Da Ponte within the same American house setting at different points over a 300-year span.

Conductor Bertrand de Billy makes his Company debut leading an international cast headed by Etienne Dupuis as Don Giovanni and Adela Zaharia as Donna Anna, both in Company debuts, with Carmen Giannattasio, Christina Gansch, Luca Pisaroni, Amitai Pati, Cody Quattlebaum and Soloman Howard.

The Mozart-Da Ponte Trilogy launched in 2019 with the popular and critically praised production of The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) set in America's early postcolonial period when the American house setting and the nation itself were newly founded. The narrative arc continued in November 2021 with Così fan tutte, in which Cavanagh's "richly inventive touch" (San Francisco Chronicle) moved the action to the 1930s where the house has been converted into a country club and the characters find themselves at moral crossroads.

The director and his creative team of set and projection designer Erhard Rom, costume designer Constance Hoffman and lighting designer Jane Cox conclude their vision for the trilogy with Don Giovanni, set 150 years after the previous installment in an uncertain future where the house and society are crumbling. Cavanagh said: "When we charted the Great American House journey, we deliberately stretched our timeline to demonstrate the universality and timelessness of the common themes in these amazing works. In Don Giovanni, the greed, desire and hunger for power without regard for impact on our fellow human beings has stolen our future and loosed monsters on the world. And those monsters look like us."

Don Giovanni follows the titular Don, a nobleman whose womanizing and rapacious self-interest lead to a fiery retribution. Witty, darkly humorous and filled with exuberant melodic invention, the opera reveals the 31-year-old Mozart at a creative peak. Parisian conductor Bertrand de Billy will conduct the 1788 version of the score, wherein Mozart added arias and made other changes for the work's presentation in Vienna six months after its first performances in Prague. In his first performances since joining the Company in January, San Francisco Opera's Chorus Director John Keene prepares the Opera Chorus.

Canadian baritone Etienne Dupuis, who recently made waves at the Metropolitan Opera as Rodrigue in Verdi's Don Carlos, brings his acclaimed interpretation of the central character of this Mozart and Da Ponte work. Opera Canada said: "[Dupuis] deploys immense charm and seduction, phrasing with infinite finesse." Adding to his gallery of memorable Mozartean roles on the War Memorial Opera House stage, bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni is Leporello. Pisaroni's celebrated portrayal of the Don's henchman was praised by the New York Times for its "charm" and "touch of swagger."

Adela Zaharia makes her Company debut as Donna Anna, a role she has recently performed on the leading opera stages of Paris, Amsterdam, London and Madrid. About the Romanian soprano, the Los Angeles Times observed "[Adela Zaharia's] voice was equal parts shimmer and opulence." Carmen Giannattasio takes on the role of Donna Elvira. Since making her sensational San Francisco Opera debut as Tosca in 2018, the Italian soprano has received praise in a variety of core Italian repertory, including her "committed" Joan of Arc in Verdi's early work Giovanna d'Arco: "Carmen Giannattasio brough a voice of beauty, texture and lyrical amplitude to the challenging role" (Opera News).

Samoan-born tenor and former San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow Amitai Pati is Don Ottavio, and soprano Christina Gansch, a standout in the Company's 2019 production of Handel's Orlando, is Zerlina. Former Merola Opera Program participant and bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum makes his Company debut as Masetto. Bass Soloman Howard, who appeared earlier this season with San Francisco Opera in Beethoven's Fidelio and Puccini's Tosca, will portray the Commendatore.

Sung in Italian with English supertitles, the eight performances of Don Giovanni are scheduled for June 4 (7:30 pm), June 10 (7:30 pm), June 12 (2 pm), June 15 (7:30 pm), June 18 (7:30 pm), June 21 (7:30 pm), June 26 (2 pm); July 2 (7:30 pm), 2022.

In honor of San Francisco's Pride Month, the Saturday, June 18 performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni will include a Pride Night at the Opera after-party. All ticket holders to the performance are invited to attend this celebration of San Francisco's diverse LGBTQ+ community on the Dress Circle level of the Opera House for drinks, dancing, and jubilation.

On May 31 and June 1, the San Francisco Opera Guild will present a series of Opera Preview lectures on Don Giovanni by Derek Katz, Associate Professor of Music History at University of California, Santa Barbara. Each 90-minute lecture provides in-depth insight into the opera's history, composer, story and music.

San Francisco Chapter

Tuesday, May 31 at 12 pm Zoom Webinar

General Admission: $10. Register at Eventbrite.

San Jose Opera Guild

Wednesday, June 1 at 10 am

Addison-Penzak JCC Silicon Valley, 14855 Oka Road, Suite 201, Los Gatos

Free to San Jose Opera Guild and Addison-Penzak JCC members; $10 general admission

East Bay Chapter

Wednesday, June 1 at 7:30 pm

Lafayette Library and Learning Center, 3491 Mount Diablo Blvd, Lafayette

General Admission: $10

For more information about the Opera Preview Series, visit sfopera.com/operapreviews.

Tickets for Don Giovanni range from $26 to $408 and are available at the San Francisco Opera Box Office, by phone at (415) 864-3330 and online at sfopera.com. The San Francisco Opera Box Office window is located in the Opera House at 301 Van Ness Avenue. Box Office hours are Monday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (Saturdays phone only except during performance season May 14 through July 2). A $2 per-ticket facility fee is included in Balcony 1, 2 and 3 zone prices; all other zones include a $3 per-ticket facility fee.

San Francisco Opera requires all patrons aged 12 and older, who are eligible, to show proof of vaccination and booster shot along with a photo ID for admission to performances at the War Memorial Opera House. Proof of vaccination is required for children aged 5 to 11 (defined as two weeks after their final shot). Unvaccinated attendees ages 5 years and up are not permitted. If you are attending with any children under the age of 5, please call the Box Office at (415) 864-3330. All patrons must wear well-fitted masks that cover their nose, mouth and chin when inside the War Memorial Opera House unless they are actively eating or drinking. A non-vented N95 mask is strongly recommended for maximum protection. For complete information about the Company's health and safety protocols, visit sfopera.com/safetyfirst.

To ensure flexibility for patrons in this transitional season, exchanges will be accepted without incurring a fee up to two hours before performances. Refunds will be available if patrons must miss a performance due to COVID. Refund requests must be made at least two hours before the performance.

The War Memorial Opera House is located at 301 Van Ness Avenue. Patrons are encouraged to use public transportation to attend San Francisco Opera performances. The War Memorial Opera House is within walking distance of the Civic Center BART/Muni Station and near numerous bus lines, including 5, 21, 47, 49 and F Market Street. For further public transportation information, visit bart.gov and sfmta.com.

All casting, programs, schedules and ticket prices are subject to change. For further information about San Francisco Opera's 2021-22 Season, visit sfopera.com/onstage.

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