News Release
Music Director Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra
present fully staged performances of
Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Severance Hall
Simon Keenlyside featured in his first American performances of the title role
Release date: January 18, 2011; Revised: February 25, 2011
Saturday, March 19
Tuesday, March 22
Thursday, March 24
Sunday, March 27
Martina Janková and Simon Keenlyside in the 2006
Zurich Opera production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni
Photo bySuzanne Schwiertz
The Cleveland Orchestra brings Mozart’s two-act tragicomic opera Don Giovanni to Severance Hall for four performances of a fully staged production from the Zurich Opera. Music Director Franz Welser-Möst conducts the production, which he previously conducted in Zurich in collaboration with stage director Sven-Eric Bechtolf, set designer Rolf Glittenberg, and costume designer Marianne Glittenberg. Musical America’s 2011 Vocalist of the Year, British baritone Simon Keenlyside will sing the title role of Don Giovanni, in his first U.S. performances of the role. Severance Hall performances will be given on Saturday, March 19, at 7 p.m.; Tuesday, March 22, at 7 p.m.; Thursday, March 24, at 7 p.m.; and Sunday, March 27, at 1:30 p.m. (Please note that the start time for the performance on March 27 has been moved from 3 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. for a national live radio broadcast.)
Simon Keenlyside is among an international cast of soloists appearing with the Orchestra for the production, which will be performed in Italian with projected English supertitles. The Cleveland Orchestra Opera Chorus, prepared by Cleveland Orchestra Director of Choruses Robert Porco, will appear as party guests in the opera, which is presented in contemporary Art Deco style. Also appearing as members of the cast are dancers from Cleveland’s Verb Ballets.
Principal cast members performing with Mr. Keenlyside are soprano Eva Mei (Donna Anna), soprano Malin Hartelius (Donna Elvira), baritone Ruben Drole (Leporello), tenor Shawn Mathey (Don Ottavio), soprano Martina Janková(Zerlina), bass Reinhard Mayr (Masetto), and bass-baritone Alfred Muff (The Commendatore). The singers have all appeared in the Zurich Opera production of Don Giovanni. Ms. Hartelius, Ms. Janková, and Mr. Drole each have appeared in the other two operas in The Cleveland Orchestra’s Mozart/Da Ponte opera cycle, The Marriage of Figaro (2009) and Così fan tutte (2010). Mr. Mayr appeared in the 2009 production of The Marriage of Figaro.
FREE CONCERT PREVIEW AND LIVE WEBCAST
In a special Concert Preview on Sunday, March 13, at 5 p.m. in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Hall, Franz Welser-Möst will discuss Don Giovanni. The Preview is free, but reservations are required. The preview will be webcast live and available online prior to the performances. Call the Severance Hall Ticket Office at 216-231-1111 or 800-686-1141. Concert Previews are funded by a generous endowment gift from Dorothy Humel Hovorka.
SIMON KEENLYSIDE
Simon Keenlyside, called “the Ralph Fiennes of baritones” by The New York Times, is one of today’s most sought-after and charismatic singers, acclaimed for his performances in the title role of Don Giovanni at the Zurich Opera and at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden in London. Mr. Keenlyside was named 2011 Vocalist of the Year by Musical America. In its announcement of the award, Musical America said, “Simon Keenlyside’s passion for singing and theater makes even the most timeworn operas seem unpredictable. Critics and vocal fanciers agree that the British baritone has brought uncommon ardor to the sublime characters of Mozart and Verdi, Britten’s Billy Budd, and Debussy’s Pelléas, among others.”
Simon Keenlyside made his Cleveland Orchestra debut in March 2000 performances of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder. He appeared as Rodrigo in Severance Hall concert performances of Verdi’s Don Carlo in June 2003 and as Mr. Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff at the Lucerne Festival in September 2006. In August 2008, he was a soloist in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in Salzburg and Lucerne. He most recently appeared with the Orchestra in November 2009 as a soloist in Brahms’s A German Requiem in Vienna.
Critical acclaim for Simon Keenlyside as Don Giovanni:
from the 2006 Zurich Opera production:
- “If every epoch has its Don Giovanni, ours is to be found in Simon Keenlyside, an exceptional holder of that title…. His talents as an actor and his physical attractiveness allow him most naturally to play a libertine, a bad boy ‘par excellence,’ cynical and cold, shamelessly playing at seduction and sexual attraction…. [He] shows impeccable diction, a perfect mastery of the sung notes as well as an immense palette of colors and nuances, as much in the expression as in the volume, with a bright, supple voice.” – ConcertoNet.com
- “Simon Keenlyside sings and acts the Don as if it were his life’s role.” – Die Welt
from the 2008 Royal Opera House production:
- “The other hero was Simon Keenlyside, whose Don Giovanni was driven by a compulsive sexual hunger: his cruelty to male rivals was as pathological as his cruelty to female conquests, the personification of rancid negativity.” – The Independent
- “Simon Keenlyside’s mercurial Giovanni is a tour de force....” – The Guardian
FRANZ WELSER-MÖST
When Franz Welser-Möst led the Zurich production, Wolfgang Huber-Lang wrote in Mozart Magazine:
“I’ve rarely seen – and above all heard – a conductor who is that relaxed, who gives the first entry with an encouraging smile, who moves through the score with ease and finesse and does not just execute it, who is able to smile at the proceedings onstage again and again but in the next moment does not leave anything to be desired in dynamics and drama.”
With Franz Welser-Möst, The Cleveland Orchestra has re-established itself as an important operatic ensemble. Together, they gave five sold-out performances of Dvořák’s Rusalka at the Salzburg Festival in 2008. In March 2009, Mr. Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra gave four sold-out staged performances of The Marriage of Figaro in Cleveland, marking the return of staged opera to Severance Hall for the first time in decades. In March 2010, Così fan tutte continued a traversal of the remarkable three operas created by Mozart with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. In March 2011, the Orchestra and Mr. Welser-Möst will complete the set with staged performances of Don Giovanni at Severance Hall.
Beginning in the summer of 2011, The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst will appear every other year at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York City, performing concerts in the first year and subsequently – in 2013 and 2015 – performing as the pit orchestra at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater for productions of the Vienna State Opera, where Franz Welser-Möst became general music director in September 2010.
SELECT YOUR OWN SEATS
Severance Hall patrons can select their own seats online. Clicking on any “Buy Ticket” button on the calendar will link to the Ticket Reservations page. This ticket ordering page automatically displays the “Select Your Own Seat” option (if applicable). Patrons may alternatively select the “Choose Best Available” option.
PRINT-AT-HOME TICKETS
Severance Hall patrons have the option of printing their tickets at home. Choose the “Print-at-Home” option on the Delivery Method page during online checkout.
Cleveland Orchestra opera performances are made possible in part through the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Simon Keenlyside’s appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra is made possible by a gift to the Orchestra’s Guest Artist Fund from the Kulas Foundation.
Ticket and Parking Information
Ticket Prices: Box Seats: $226; Orchestra: $133, $93; Dress Circle: $162, $123; Balcony: $133, $123, $71.
Ticket Office: The Severance Hall Ticket Office is located in the Smith Lobby. The entrance and 15-minute Ticket Service parking are along East Boulevard. The Ticket Office is open 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Monday-Friday and on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Closed Sundays and holidays, except for those days with performances, when the Ticket Office opens 3 hours before concert start time.
Group Sales (groups of 10 or more): Call the Cleveland Orchestra Group Sales Office at Severance Hall at 216-231-7463 or email groupsales@clevelandorchestra.com for information.
Parking: For information about parking for Severance Hall concerts, click here.
Venue information: Severance Hall, which opened in 1931 as the home of The Cleveland Orchestra, is located at 11001 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44106.
Calendar Listing
Sunday, March 13, 2011, at 5 p.m. in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Hall
Music Director Franz Welser-Möst will discuss Don Giovanni.
Free, but reservations are required.
Call 216-231-1111 or 800-686-1141.
Saturday, March 19, 2011, at 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011, at 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 24, 2011, at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 27, 2011, at 1:30 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Simon Keenlyside, baritone (Don Giovanni)
Eva Mei, soprano (Donna Anna)
Malin Hartelius, soprano (Donna Elvira)
Ruben Drole, baritone (Leporello)
Shawn Mathey, tenor (Don Ottavio)
Martina Janková, soprano (Zerlina)
Reinhard Mayr, bass (Masetto)
Alfred Muff, bass-baritone (The Commendatore)
Cleveland Orchestra Opera Chorus
Robert Porco, director
Dancers from Verb Ballets
Mozart’s Don Giovanni
MOZART: Don Giovanni
Sung in Italian with projected English supertitles
Tickets: $71, $93, $123, $133, $162, $226
To order: 216-231-1111, 800-686-1141, or online to select your own seats and print your tickets at home
Location: Severance Hall, 11001 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland
All artists and programs are subject to change.
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Press Contacts
Jennifer Schlosser, 216-231-7518; Email: jschlosser@clevelandorchestra.com
Ana Papakhian, Office: 216-231-7476; Cell phone: 216-370-2595; Email: anap@clevelandorchestra.com
