COMMENT: Mozart's Don Giovanni

Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden - thunderous applause for this opera in which one delicious aria follows another. For some reason the conductor Luisotti took Leporello's aria listing Don Giovanni's conquests (names written and jumping all over a transparent curtain) very slowly but it was otherwise marvelously sung and conducted.

The hero of the evening, the Brazilian Atalla Ayan (he replaced Antonio Poli who was ill) he had arrived at 8 in the morning from Stuttgart - rehearsed , got his costumes and was on form on stage at 7:00 in the evening. He was cheered enthusiastically 'a l'anglaise' for being a good sport, but also because his singing was so good.

The sets and costumes were a mixture of avant garde and traditional and worked very well.