Productions

Author of the libretto: Lorenzo da Ponte
Music director and conductor: Risto Joost
Conductors: Taavi Kull or Martin Sildos
Artist and video designer: Katrīna Neiburga (Latvia)
Costume designer: Kristīne Pasternaka (Latvian National Opera)
Lighting designer: Kristjan Suits (Tallinn City Theatre)
Movement director: Rauno Zubko
Director’s assistant: Merle Jalakas

Cast:
Jānis Apeinis (Latvian National Opera) or Tamar Nugis (Estonian National Opera)
Raiko Raalik (Estonian National Opera) or Tambet Kikas (Estonian National Opera)
Simo Breede or Taavi Tampuu (guest)
Märt Jakobson (guest)
Juhan Tralla (guest) or Rasmus Kull
Karmen Puis
Pirjo Jonas or Maria Melaha (guest)
Maria Listra (guest) or Grete Oolberg
Saara Nüganen and others.
Vanemuine Opera Chorus and Symphony Orchestra

Mozart wrote the opera Don Giovanni based on Tirso de Molina’s play The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest published in 1630, and on its main character Don Juan. Premiering in 1787 at the National Theatre of Bohemia, the opera was welcomed with open arms, although the work remained slightly incomprehensible for the eighteenth-century Viennese audience. Still, just a few decades later, the work bore the title of the greatest opera in history.

The libertine ladies’ man Don Giovanni and his trusty servant Leporello have travelled the world together, leaving thousands of broken hearts behind. Not all women are willing to accept this, and so Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Zerlina decide to expose the man’s true nature. Don Giovanni enjoys his exploits, but the trickster must bear his own cross in the end.

This centuries-old tale exchanges the sword for a cell phone, so the archetypal anti-hero could once again bear the responsibility for his actions.

Don Giovanni has previously been brought to the stage of Vanemuine Theatre just once, in 1990. This version has been brought to the stage by the drama director Elmo Nüganen, for whom it is his first contact with Vanemuine, although not his first with Mozart: in 1994, he brought The Marriage of Figaro to the stage of Pärnu Opera.

For his work as the Music Director and Conductor of Don Giovanni, Risto Joost received the Estonian Theatre Award for Music in 2022. For the role of Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Märt Jakobson received the Estonian Theatre Award for Music in 2022.