Two Dons

Don Giovanni, composed by W. A. Mozart, directed by Richard Jones. Norwegian National Opera, Oslo, May 2018.

Don Giovanni, composed by W. A. Mozart, directed by Louisa Proske. Heartbeat Opera, New York, May 2018.

THE OSLO Opera House is one of the gems of early twenty-first-century architecture, a building that, like the twentieth-century Sydney Opera House, substantially shapes the city’s public image. Designed by the local firm of Snohetta and built on what had previously been warehouse-occupied land down by the water, it rises from its surroundings like a white sail or a snowy glacier. The distinctive slanted roof, which is open to the public, functions at all hours as a kind of urban park where people can sunbathe or picnic or just take in the view. Made of white marble and white granite, the sloping surface, which appears uniform from a distance, is actually sliced across by a series of tiny, uneven steps, so that a slight rise or drop will suddenly appear beneath your feet, marked only by a shift from rough to polished