Mozart’s perennially popular masterpiece, Don Giovanni (1787), is set to open the Royal Opera’s 2019-20 season this autumn, the Covent Garden-based company has announced.

The production kicks off a packed season that includes a total of 13 new pieces, including two world premieres, as well as a programme of operas designed specifically for a family audience.

Danish director Kaspar Holten produced his visually striking Don Giovanni in 2014. It returns to the Royal Opera House for its third revival in September. The production casts the impulsive and charismatic title character as an artist who thrives on an audience enticed by his creative gifts.

The spectacular set was created by award-winning designer Es Devlin. Also incorporating ingenious video designs by Luke Hall and beautiful costumes by Anja Vang Kragh, the opera accentuates the beauty and invention of Mozart’s dazzling tragicomedy.

Also within the line-up are Barrie Kosky’s new production of Handel’s Agrippina (1709) and David McVicar’s new version of Britten’s last opera Death in Venice (1973). Performances of both composers’ operas continue, with the Jette Parker Young Artists taking centre stage in a brand-new production of Handel’s Susanna (1749), while Natalie Abrahami and Michael Levine will stage a new production of one of Britten’s best-loved operas, The Turn of the Screw (1954). Both of these will be performed on the Royal Opera House’s new auditorium, the Linbury Theatre.

The Royal Opera has also unveiled a programme of work specifically designed for family audiences, including two world premieres: Antony McDonald’s production of Gerald Barry’s wild and witty Alice’s Adventures Under Ground and composer Jules Maxwell’s adaptation of Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing, directed by Ben Wright. Staged with Candoco Dance Company, this ground-breaking new commission will feature a cast of disabled and non-disabled singers, dancers and musicians.

Additionally, the Royal Opera will stage the third opera in its Leoš Janáček cycle, Jenůfa (1904), while a co-commission between the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Royal Opera brings the world premiere of She Described It To Death to the Linbury stage.

 

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The Royal Opera’s 2019-20 season opens with a revival of Kasper Holten’s Don Giovanni.