Following his acclaimed reimagining of The Marriage of Figaro at the 2015 International Festival, pioneering Hungarian musician Iván Fischer both conducts and directs his daring personal vision of Mozart’s masterpiece. He presents the world of the opera as seen through the eyes of the Don – a dangerous, erotic place, empty of sets or props, where enticing bodies take their place, as his chorus of young actors become doors, windows, beds, tables, or sinister means of death.

If you could seduce at will – why would you ever stop?

Charismatic and impulsive, Don Giovanni prowls Europe – accompanied by long-suffering sidekick Leporello – leaving a retinue of seduced and betrayed women in his wake. But when the father of his most recent conquest challenges him, the Don unleashes a dark power whose demons are hungry for revenge.

Mozart’s masterful operatic dissection of lust and betrayal swings restlessly between comedy and tragedy to startling effect. It contains some of Mozart’s most irresistible music – from Leporello’s darkly witty catalogue aria, to the seductive duet ‘Là ci darem la mano’.

Fischer is joined by a strong cast of international soloists, and an ensemble drawn from his own Budapest Festival Orchestra, for this remarkable, provocative staging.

Photo: Müpa Budapest / Zsuzsanna Pető