![\"giovanni1\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/giovanni1.jpg?resize=300%2C127\")
\nNEW SEASON LAUNCHES WITH PRODUCTION OF MOZART\u2019S FAMOUS OPERA, \u201cDON GIOVANNI\u201d<\/p>\n
CINEMA NOUVEAU PRESENTS THE NEW 2016 \/ 17 METROPOLITAN OPERA SEASON, INCLUDING SIX NEW PRODUCTIONS<\/p>\n
Exclusively at Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor theatres countrywide, ten opulent operas, including five new productions, from the Met stage to the big digital screen<\/p>\n
\nNEW SEASON LAUNCHES WITH PRODUCTION OF MOZART\u2019S FAMOUS OPERA, \u201cDON GIOVANNI\u201d<\/p>\n
The much-anticipated 2016\/17 Live in HD season from The Metropolitan Opera in New York returns to South African cinema screens from November this year. In its eleventh year of The Met: Live in HD being screened on cinemas around the world, including Ster-Kinekor and Cinema Nouveau here, the new season presents ten opulent, full-length operas including five new productions, three of which are new to the series.<\/p>\n
All the opera productions will release exclusively at Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor theatres, and the season runs from 19 November till June 2017. The season opens on Saturday, 19 November, with the staging of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart\u2019s famous opera, Don Giovanni, for limited screenings.<\/p>\n
The 2016-17\u00a0Live in HD\u00a0season will feature the series\u2019 first broadcasts of\u00a0Kaija Saariaho\u2019s 2000 opera\u00a0L\u2019Amour de Loin,\u00a0which has its Met premiere this season; Verdi\u2019s early Biblical epic\u00a0Nabucco, starring\u00a0Pl\u00e1cido Domingo\u00a0in the title role; and Mozart\u2019s\u00a0Idomeneo, conducted by Met Music Director\u00a0James Levine.<\/p>\n
In addition to the new productions of\u00a0Tristan und Isolde\u00a0and\u00a0L\u2019Amour de Loin,\u00a0Live in HD\u00a0audiences will see the Met\u2019s new stagings of Gounod\u2019s\u00a0Rom\u00e9o et Juliette,\u00a0starring\u00a0Diana Damrau\u00a0and\u00a0Vittorio Grigolo; Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s\u00a0Rusalka, with\u00a0Kristine Opolais\u00a0in her first Met performances of her international breakthrough role; and Strauss\u2019s\u00a0Der Rosenkavalier, with\u00a0Ren\u00e9e Fleming\u00a0as the Marschallin and\u00a0El\u012bna Garan\u010da\u00a0as Octavian.<\/p>\n
The South African season launches with Mozart\u2019s\u00a0Don Giovanni, with\u00a0Simon Keenlyside\u00a0in his first Met performances of the rakish title character. It also includes: Verdi\u2019s\u00a0La Traviata, with\u00a0Sonya Yoncheva\u00a0as the doomed Violetta; and Tchaikovsky\u2019s\u00a0Eugene Onegin, with\u00a0Anna Netrebko\u00a0repeating one of her great triumphs of recent seasons opposite the Onegin of\u00a0Dmitri Hvorostovsky.<\/p>\n
The 2016-17 season\u2019s screening dates are as follows: Mozart\u2019s Don Giovanni from Saturday, 19 November, followed by Wagner\u2019s epic tragedy, Tristan und Isolde on 03 December. The season continues in 2017 with Kaija Saariaho\u2019s L\u2019Amour de Loin (07 January 2017), Verdi\u2019s famous Nabucco (04 February), Charles Gounod\u2019s lush adaptation of Shakespeare\u2019s Rom\u00e9o et Juliette (11 February), Rusalka by Antonin Dvorak (25 March), Verdi\u2019s popular La Traviata (08 April), Idomeneo by Mozart (24 April), Tchaikovsky\u2019s Eugene Onegin (20 May), and finally, Richard Strauss\u2019s Der Rosenkavalier (10 June).<\/p>\n
Don Giovanni \u2013 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (from Saturday, 19 November 2016)<\/p>\n
Simon Keenlyside makes his Met role debut in the title role as the unrepentant seducer in Tony Award-winner Michael Grandage\u2019s staging of Mozart\u2019s masterpiece, Don Giovanni. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads the cast that also includes Hibla Gerzmava as Donna Anna, Malin Bystr\u00f6m as Donna Elvira, Serena Malfi as Zerlina, Adam Plachetka as Leporello, Matthew Rose as Masetto, Kwangchul Youn as the Commendatore, and Rolando Villaz\u00f3n in his Live in HD debut as Don Ottavio.<\/p>\n
Mozart, aided by his ingenious librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, approached his operatic retelling of the Don Juan myth from a point of view that is neither tragic nor entirely comic, but rather lighthearted, urbane and iconic. Over the course of a night, a day and another night, we follow the title character, Don Giovanni, and his earthy sidekick, Leporello, through a series of encounters that begins with a fatal duet, moves back and forth between the humorous and the sentimental, and ends with the protagonist being dragged down to hell by a vengeful, ghostly reincarnation of the Commendatore. Buoyed by Mozart\u2019s nuanced and insightful score, the opera still rings with psychological truth after more than two centuries. This production places the action in an unnamed Spanish city in the mid-18th century.<\/p>\n
This is the most performed opera by Mozart in the Met\u2019s repertory with 548 performances to date, having premiered in the Met\u2019s initial 1883-84 season. Legendary conductors who have led the opera at the Met include James Levine, Gustav Mahler, Alan Gilbert, Fritz Reiner, Tullio Serafiin, George Szell and Bruno Walter.<\/p>\n
Don Giovanni releases in Cinema Nouveau theatres at Rosebank Mall (JHB), Brooklyn Mall (PTA), Gateway (DBN) and V&A Waterfront (CT) on Saturday, 19 November at 17:00. The screening on 20 November at 14:30 will also be shown at Ster-Kinekor Bedford (JHB), Garden Route Mall (George) and Somerset (Somerset West). The other screenings are as follows: 22 and 30 November at 11:30; and 29 November at 18:00.<\/p>\n
The running time is 3 hours and 22 minutes, with one intermission.<\/p>\n
In addition to the production, lovers of opera are invited behind the scenes with the Met’s stars. Singers serve as hosts for the HD series, conducting live interviews with cast and crew members as well as the production teams. They introduce the popular behind-the-scenes features during the intermissions, giving cinema audiences an unprecedented look at what goes into staging an opera at one of the world\u2019s greatest houses.<\/p>\n
The Don Giovanni intermission feature, hosted by Joyce DiDonato, includes:<\/p>\n
Live interview with Simon Keenlyside, Hibla Gerzmava, Malin Bystr\u00f6m, Paul Appleby, Adam Plachetka, Serena Malfi and Matthew Rose<\/p>\n
Preview of L\u2019amour de Loin with Susanna Phillips<\/p>\n
50th anniversary feature<\/p>\n