Blackwater Valley Opera Festival 2026: Don Giovanni

Jolyon Loy, Carolyn Holt in Don Giovanni. Image, Frances Marshall.

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The problem staging Mozart’s two act opera Don Giovanni (1787) is that Don Giovanni is a problem. An irredeemable lecher, an unrepentant rapist, an unapologetic murderer, even when punished with eternal damnation the manosphere’s poster boy remains defiant. The problem compounded by librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte ensuring every other character also poses problems. An unfaithful bride, a vengeful daughter, two gormless lovers, a weak willed ex and an enabling servant; none scream role model for our phone snap, cancel culture, social media consciousness. Then there’s the problem of trying to fix the problems. Sanitising Mozart’s messy glob of inglorious humanity into something morally accountable. Presenting a scrubbed up Dorian Gray when Mozart presents Gray’s messy portrait. Reflecting our warts and all back to us so we might at least laugh, or better understand ourselves. Director Tom Creed’s reimagined Don Giovanni for a modern audience meeting these problems head on. Resolving some, but not all, in Blackwater Valley Opera Festival’s vivaciously vibrant production.

Gavan Ring, Amy Ní Fhearraigh and Carolyn Holt in Don Giovanni. Image, Frances Marshall.

What is it with Creed and walls these days? As with his recent The Plough and the Stars, Creed again employs a minimalist set dominated by an unlovely wall. Aedín Cosgrove’s contemporary hotel corridor, its numbered doors hinting of hidden and other spaces, cleverly functional if aesthetically dull. Creed’s superbly crafted opening to Mozart’s overture whisking us along through signature introductions to characters. Highlighting the eternal divide between tiresome servitude and tuxedoed wealth, echoed in Catherine Fay’s superb costumes. Class often making for troubling subtext as new money in the guise of baritone Jolyon Loy’s Don Giovanni, and bass Andrew Murphy as his personal assistant Leporello, speaks to tacky thuggery and barbaric appetites. Like a track-suited, street level gangster, Don Giovanni forces himself into the room of Donna Anna where the imagination leaves you to guess what happens. No guessing required when Donna Anna’s father, bass Valerian Ruminski’s Il Commendatore, seeks vengeance. His blood drenched body slung into a broom closet once Don Giovanni has killed him. Or has he?

 Valerian Ruminski, Amy Ní Fhearraigh, Gavan Ring in Don Giovanni. Image, Frances Marshall.

For a self-professed ladies man, Don Giovanni often finds himself running from women more often than at them. Masks and mistaken identities setting up comic convolutions that stretch credibility. Dodging Amy Ní Fhearraigh’s vengeful Donna Anna, Carolyn Holt’s strong willed Donna Elvira and chasing after Aimee Kearney’s good time wife Zerlina, Mozart’s bad boy is kept busy. All three Irish singers simply sensational, delivering a feast of vocal complexities rich in texture, pitch and timbre. Soprano Kearney’s coquettish soubrette, mezzo-soprano Holt’s radiantly comic Donna Elvira, and lyric soprano Ní Fhearraigh’s fearsome Donna Anna all divine in solo or when enriching Mozart’s exquisitely gorgeous harmonies. Ní Fhearraigh’s singing world class; swooping, swooning and soaring with a confident aura of authority. All three leaving the men, despite a heavy musculature of bass and baritone, looking and sounding a little weak.

Gavan Ring and Amy Ní Fhearraigh in Don Giovanni. Image, Frances Marshall.

If Donna Anna is no distressed damsel enraptured by the allure of the manosphered male, bass-baritone Dominic Veilleux’s boy child Masetto is less resilient. Dressed, like much of BVO’s Chorus, like an extra on White Lotus: The Love Island Special, Masetto offers mostly comic relief. Along with tenor Gavan Ring as gormless Don Ottavio. Even so, their singing and performances are utterly superb, with Ring’s rendition of Il mio tesoro one of the night’s highlights. If Murphy’s Leporello is elevated through comedy, with Murphy’s comic and vocal delivery a thing of perfection, comedy is a luxury Don Giovanni can’t hide behind. Easy on the eyes and eager to flash the cash, Loy’s charmless, blunted Don Giovanni is more wannabe acolyte than manosphere alpha male. Lacking the requisite charm or danger, defanged of personality or persuasiveness, Mozart’s bad boy becomes a one dimensional criminal. A lover whose seduction techniques look pathetic next to Zerlinga’s. Yet Loy’s Don Giovanni is found in his singing, with Loy’s revealing traits performance doesn’t catch; a  sense of no need to try as opposed to trying too hard. The problem of Don Giovanni resolved by making him performatively less rather than larger than life. Mozart’s insane morality sanitised into moral sanity. Our hypocrisy, the sin Mozart originally foregrounded, conceding to more modern concerns.

Dominic Veilleux (front) in Don Giovanni. Image, Frances Marshall.

As the second act proceeds, solos come to the fore as shenanigans take on greater weight. Put upon assistant Leporello finding himself seducing Donna Elvira, with Don Giovanni’s help. Efforts to hunt Don Giovanni brewing over with violence. Tension mounting until a ghostly voice results in an unconvincing reckoning. Whether ghostly figure or Weekend At Bernies: The Resurrection, the spin on Mozart’s talking statue is confusing to say the least. With nothing credibly, or incredibly resolved, the end fizzles out into a damp, disappointing whimper. One you’ll likely forgive on account of the invested performances, glorious solos and jaw dropping harmonies thus far. Along with Mozart’s sweeping score made miraculous by Irish Baroque Orchestra under the baton of Peter Whelan.

Andrew Murphy, Chorus, and Carolyn Holt in Don Giovanni. Image, Frances Marshall.

Throughout, sex is underplayed, and usually off stage, so as to avoid worrying issues being treated as comic fodder. Against which Creed proves masterful at realising those intimate, messy moments of human relationship that enrich both singing and performances. Crafting a Don Giovanni relevant for a post #metoo, 21st century audience. It might annoy those who prefer period bosoms over mobile phones and hen parties, but one suspects Mozart would have throughly enjoyed it. As should you. Not solely on account of Don Giovanni being mostly terrific, with its exquisite singing always so. Nor for the perfect backdrop of Lismore Castle. But, in no small measure, on account of the supremely attentive Blackwater Valley Opera Festival’s volunteers and staff. From their warm welcome to safe home, goodnight you are exceptionally well looked after. Blackwater Valley Opera Festival once again delivering an exceptional opera experience.

Don Giovanni, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, presented by Blackwater Valley Opera Festival runs at Lismore Castle on May 29th, 30th and June 1st as part of Blackwater Valley Opera Festival 2026.

For more information visit Blackwater Valley Opera Festival