Don Giovanni is not merely a story of a punished sinner, or a simplistic musical comedy. It is a unique dramatic piece. The seemingly typical comedy situations that come across in other operas as light and non-engaging, are harsh here and gradate the overall tension. Giovanni faces punishment, though the question remains open about who actually sentenced and punished him: God, people or – as hinted by the director Jozef Bednárik – his own arid interior? Even though Mozart in no way moves away from the classicistic composition style and doesn’t distort its strict dictum, he still awards the oeuvre a distinct stamp of originality that is inimitable in operatic opus.

Running time: 3 hrs with one interval