Henk Neven's sexy Don Giovanni in Bergen

Henk Neven in Bergen's Don Giovanni

For the Bergen National Opera's new Don Giovanni, British director Oliver Mears has transformed the stage of Grieg Hall in Bergen, Norway to a grand 1960s cruise ship with its classy salons and swimming pools. The production sets the story amongst the labyrinthine corridors and salons of a grand ship, with its upper and lower decks and their implicit privileges and deprivations. What could be more appropriate in a city set along Norway's famous fjords?

Mear's said of the production, "We wanted to set the production somewhere that was self-contained, labyrinthine, where it could be plausible that characters keep running into each other (as they do in the original libretto), and where the class and status differences so crucial to the original story could retain their importance.'

In the title role they've cast Dutch barihunk Henk Neven, who spends much of the opera in various stages of undress. Tickets and additional cast information are available online.

Henk Neven sings "Deh viena alla finestra" in Amsterdam:

After Don Giovanni, Neven returns to his native country to perform Bach's Matthäus Passion with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century from March 25-30. He then heads across the Pond for two performances of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, first in Quebec City on April 9th and then at New York's Carnegie Hall on April 12th.