Don Giovanni Projections by Jenny Okun 2006
Synopsis:
Considered "one the greatest operas ever written," Mozart's Don Giovanni is the highlight of El Dorado Opera's 2006-2007 season. Mozart blessed it with some of his greatest music, savagely beautiful, funny and tender all at the same time. Directed by Richard Sparks, the twists of tragedy meet the turns of comedy in this fully-staged NEW production. The full orchestra will feature the Chelsea Opera Orchestra Quintet direct from New York under the baton of musical director, Maestro Carmine Aufiero, and Conductor Rafael Lamas.
Through the architectural photography of Jenny Okun and the innovative set design of Yael Pardess, El Dorado Opera will transport you on a timeless journey to Seville Spain to live this timeless classic.
In Italian with English Surtitles
Wednesday, October 25 and Thursday, October 26, 8pm
Sunday, October 29, 3pm
NEW SPANISH TRANSLATION with English Surtitles
Saturday, October 28, 8pm
Don Giovanni was performed in Los Angeles by the El Dorado Opera Company in 2006, directed by Richard Sparks at the El Portal Theatre. Jenny Okun created photo-montages that were front-projected onto the stage walls. For the overture a sequence of nineteen images were slowly cross-dissolved onto the front wall of the set. There were over seventy more images changes after the overture as opposed to the traditional ten set changes. Jenny Okun's images of Seville, Granada, Cordoba and the landscape of Southern Spain were synchronized in Pandora's Box. This brand new computerized system for film, image, and text projection corrects for extreme perspective so that the Christie 16 lumen projectors can be placed at a steep angles above the stage. The set, designed by Yael Pardess, consisted of three sloping floors and three shaped walls with open doorways. An elaborate masking system conformed the images exactly to the shape of the walls and doorways. The performers were thus free to move within the sets without having images projected on them. The images changed slowly so as to never interrupt the action or distract from the singing. The images were never directly specific to the narrative but were added as an emotive element and variation on the theme.
