Don Giovanni: Opera in the 21st Century

Welcome! It is my absolute pleasure to welcome you all back to another summer of Opera at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. 

This summer, we welcomed 15 participants to come and experience opera at Banff Centre. We offered positions to singers, pianists, stage directors, librettists and composers. We supported these participants by providing a world class faculty to work with them on all the skills needed to not only survive but thrive in the world of arts in 2023.

Our programming/training this summer focused on creation and working with living composers as well as exploring Mozart and Da Ponte’s great work Don Giovanni. Don Giovanni is a collaboration between the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Banff Centre.  Participants had the chance to travel to Ottawa and work with a world class orchestra and understudy a professional cast of singers.  Now they bring those skills to Banff and perform for you all in the mountains.   

You’ll also see a brand new opera workshopped called Adoration. Music by Mary Kouyoumdjian and text by Royce Vavrek based on the film by Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan. This work features our faculty member Miriam Khalil (as well as many talented participants) and is conducted by Alan Pierson. Creation is the way forward and a skill that is becoming more important than ever. Opera at Banff Centre will continue to thrust forward, while acknowledging and building on the foundations of the past.

Finally, I would like to thank the team here at Banff Centre for providing the support needed for us to achieve the success we are all striving for. They allow us to dream bigger and accomplish more. I hope to see you at the opera this summer.

Sincerely,

Joel Ivany
Artistic Director, Opera

This house program highlights the faculty and performers for Don Giovanni. For a full list of Faculty and Participants in this years' Opera in the 21st Century program, please click here.

There will be a short intermission for this performance. 

Please turn off all cellphones, photo/video cameras.

Cast List (full team is listed in credits below):

Jamal Al Titi - Don Giovanni
Julia Dawson - Donna Anna
Natalie Image - Zerlina
Leanne Kaufman - Donna Elvira
Evan Korbut - Leporello
Matthew Li - Commedatore
Ryan Nauta - Don Ottavio
Luke Noftall - Masetto
Jeimmy, Ignacio, Rean, Ken, Irene, Sammy, Noah - Supernumerary Actors
 

Jennifer Tung - Conductor
Joel Ivany - Artistic Director, Banff Centre Opera Programming & Stage Director
Mabel Wonnacott - Associate Stage Director
Connor O'Kane - Repetiteur
Lesley Abarquez - Stage Manager
Anna Davidson - Assistant Stage Manager
Donna Sharpe - Assistant Stage Manager
Michael Gianfrancesco - Stage and Wardrobe Designer
Daneille Fagen - Associate Stage and Wardrobe Designer
Kimberly Purtell - Lighting Designer
Imogen Wilson - Associate Lighting Designer
Holly Kroeker - Head Coach

Mozart’s famous opera tells the tale of an incorrigible young man who sets on a path to his own destruction in one single day. Based on the story of Don Juan, Don Giovanni follows an amoral young man who is loved by women almost as universally as he loves them. It doesn’t take long before the audience sees that even Don Giovanni cannot escape the consequences of his flouting of conventional morality.