Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio reimagines Don Giovanni in multilingual jazz noir

The Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio, a unique ensemble integrating musicians and repertoires from diverse musical backgrounds, returns to Mozart with a contemporary reworking of Don Giovanni, staged at the Teatro Olimpico in Rome as part of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana season. Director and co-founder Mario Tronco reinterprets the 18th-century libretto as a multilingual story mixing Italian arias and recitatives with French, Portuguese, and Arabic melodies, set in a fictional 1920s Chicago jazz noir atmosphere with minimal sets and dramatic lighting. Petra Magoni, who previously played the Queen of the Night in the orchestra's debut production of The Magic Flute, now takes on the role of Don Giovanni, giving the character an ambiguous and indefinite connotation. The cast includes Simona Boo as Donna Anna, Hersi Matmuja as Donna Elvira, Mama Marjas as Zerlina, Omar Lopez Valle as Leporello, Houcine Ataa as Masetto, and Evandro Dos Reis as Don Ottavio. The production blends genres, from Alberti bass and piano recitatives to electronic music harmonies reminiscent of Wendy Carlos's work on A Clockwork Orange. The narrative follows Don Giovanni's reluctant repentance and his descent into hell, culminating in an unexpected rock finale.