Opera: ‘Don Giovanni’

Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall—described by critic Blair Kamin as “a musical ark with silver sails”—will host Don Giovanni, May 18–26, with one intriguing twist: Gehry himself will design the stage set. The opera is the first by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a three-year trilogy, Mozart/Da Ponte. Gehry describes his design (shown) as a“moving still-life” with the orchestra raised 3-1/2 feet above the action, unifying the look of the orchestra and soloists. Two as-yet-unannounced architects will design the sets for The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte. All three operas—“three of the greatest operas ever written,” the orchestra says—were collaborations between librettist Lorenzo da Ponte and composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and will be conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. • laphil.com