We’re going to hell on this week’s Sunday Opera (7/18 3:00 p.m.) with “Don Giovanni” from London’s Royal Opera House. Lorenzo Da Ponti’s tale of the lecherous Don features some of Mozart’s best loved music and is excellently performed by a superb cast headed by Mariusz Kwiecien in the title role. Kwiecien is joined here by Alex Esposito as his equally amoral partner in crime, Leporello. As the three women who have currently found themselves in his lustful crosshairs, Donna Elvira, Donna Anna, and Zerlina, we have Vernique Gens, Malin Bystrom, and Elizabeth Watts. As the fiances of Anna and Zerlina, Don Ottavio and Masetto, you’ll hear Antonio Poli and Dawid Kimberg, and finally, the “Stone Guest,” the Commendatore and father of Elvira whom Giovanni murders, is Alexander Tsymbhalyuk.
After the opera, join Michael Kownacky for a much-loved Mozart work that has a relatively obscure history. Whether it’s called his Serenade No. 10, Serenade in B flat major, or “Gran Partita,” this charming piece was probably written in Vienna in 1781 or 1782 but the seven movements never seem to have been performed together in Mozart’s lifetime. Performing them here for us will be the Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble conducted by Trevor Pinnock.
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