OA Don Giovanni: Interview With Andrei Kymach & Yuri Kissin

Don Giovanni runs at Sydney Opera House from 5^th January – 17^th February 2023. Ahead of this exciting production, we spoke to two of its stars, Andrei Kymach and Yuri Kissin.

Don Giovanni

He’s mad. He’s bad. He’s dangerous. But damn him to hell, his serenades are divine.

It’s the last day of Don Giovanni’s life, but he doesn’t know that.

For opera’s own Casanova, it’s just another day of pleasure seeking. Seducing a bride on her wedding day. Breaking into a woman’s bedroom in the dead of night. Killing her furious father.

Even before the curtain rises, Mozart reveals Don Giovanni’s fate. An earthshattering chord from the orchestra signals the gates of hell clanging open. The scoundrel’s debauched days are at an end.

When he hears a voice from beyond the grave, warning of impending punishment, Don Giovanni has no fear. Half-mocking, half-earnest, he invites the statue of the man he’s just killed to dinner.

Sir David McVicar’s production reveals the darkness in opera’s most compelling anti-hero. His Don Giovanni is a psychological thriller on a grand scale.

Monumental sets place the story in a gothic underworld inspired by the catacombs of Vienna. Monochromatic period costumes feature stunning embroidery. Can the characters keep their morals as tightly buttoned?

Andrei Kymach

Ukrainian baritone Andrei Kymach was the First Prize Winner of the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2019. Andrei graduated from the Bolshoi Young Artist Program in 2018. Within his tenure he made is role debut as Don Carlos in Dargomyzhsky’s The Stone Guest at the Bolshoi Theatre.

In the 2021/22 season returned to the Welsh National Opera to sing the title role in Don Giovanni and gave his debut at the Savonlinna Festival as Escamillo in Carmen. In seasons to come he will give his house debuts at Houston Grand Opera and Chicago Lyric Opera.

Recent highlights include his house and role debut at the Gran Teatro del Liceu Barcelona as Sir Riccardo Forth (I puritani) alongside Javier Camarena and Pretty Yende, role and house debut singing Lord Enrico Ashton (Lucia di Lammermoor) at the Auditorio de Tenerife, title role debut as Don Giovanni at Opera de Nice and Théâtre d’Antibes, plus a concert performance of Rubinstein’s The Demon (title role) at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Andrei gave concert performances of Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orleans under Tugan Sokhiev at The Bolshoi Theatre and on tour in France including Halle aux Grains, Toulouse and The Philharmonie de Paris, as well as a concerts at Opera de Nice, Opera de Toulon and a concert with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo.

Andrei holds a degree in philosophy from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev, subsequently gained a degree in singing at The National Tchaikovsky Music Academy of Ukraine (Kiev) and was a member of the Kherson Philharmonic Society (Ukraine). At the Bolshoi Young Artist Program, he also trained under Lyubov Orfenova, Semyon Skigin and Giulio Zappa.

Performing the title role of Don Giovanni from 5^th January – 17^th February 2023 at Sydney Opera House, we caught up with Baritone Andrei Kymach to find out more about the production.

Hi Andrei, thanks for talking with us at TheatreArtLife! How are you doing, and how are the preparations coming along for Don Giovanni?

Hi, thank you. I’m looking forward to my Australian debut, the preparation for Don Giovanni is very intense and interesting, revealing new aspects of this character for me.

I understand that you’ve performed this role recently with the Welsh National Opera, which was described as “arresting, dangerous, even violent”. Will you be bringing the same energy to your performance with Opera Australia?

This production straddles the line between cruelty and allure.

Don Giovanni, in my personal opinion, embodies the image of absolute evil that fights with light, this is darkness that wants to fill the world. He is a god fighter who chose the path of seducing women as the path of his struggle.

The family is the basis of the future society, it is the future of the whole planet, Don Giovanni wants to destroy this basis, replacing it with false freedom, which becomes for him the meaning of his life and existence and he really enjoys this way of life, for him it is bliss that becomes his religion.

For him, such social concepts as duty, honesty, and justice do not exist, he preaches false virtues for humanity, which destroys moral guidelines.

For me, the main message in this opera is that evil will always be punished, karma will do its job regardless of whether we believe in it or not.

You have sung extensively in your native Ukraine, over Europe, and have spent a lot of time in Wales recently as your “second home”. Have you found there to be many similarities or differences internationally, and how are you settling into both life in Wales and working in Australia?

For me and my family, this move was forced and unexpected, it was a very difficult time for us, given the events that were happening in my country and in my city, my family was under occupation and there was a question of their physical existence.

I am happy because my wife and children survived during the occupation.  Now they are safe and that is the most important thing in our lives.

Staying and working in different countries of the world is a very interesting and important way of cultural enrichment and exchange of cultures, which in turn enriches and fills the human essence.

And looking ahead, can you share with us what you will be working on following Don Giovanni with Opera Australia, and what can we look forward to from you next?

After Australia, I am going to Chicago where I will sing the role of Escamillo in the opera Carmen.

Yuri Kissin

French-Israeli bass-baritone Yuri Kissin was born in Perm (Russia). After starting his career in Israel, he moved to France and joined the Paris Opera Studio where he spent a couple of seasons. He was then invited back to take part in many productions both on the stages of the Opéra Bastille and the Palais Garnier.

He performed on most of the French opera houses and festivals and also sang in Madrid, Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, Williamsburg USA, Moscow, Perm, Amsterdam, Maribor, Monte-Carlo as well as at the Royal Opera House in Denmark and in Sweden.

His repertoire includes such roles as Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Leporello and Masetto (Don Giovanni), Don Alfonso (Cosí fan tutte), Basilio and Bartolo (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Haly (L’Italiana in Algeri), Don Magnifico and Alidoro (La Cenerentola), Frère Laurent (Roméo et Juliette), Colline (La Bohème), Escamillo (Carmen). His Russian heritage allows him to take part in many Russian operas too: Evgeny Onegin, War and Peace, Boris Godunov, Khovantschina…

Performing the role of Leporello in Don Giovanni from 5^th January – 17^th February 2023 at Sydney Opera House, we caught up with Bass-Baritone Yuri Kissin to find out more about the production.

Hi Yuri, thanks for talking with us at TheatreArtLife! How are you doing, and how are the preparations coming along for Don Giovanni?

Hi, I am enjoying every moment in the beautiful city of Sydney. We’re working hard to recreate this amazing production. There is a lot of talent in Australian singers and we do everything to fit in. But the people are so nice here that it is not a big problem.

I understand that you’ve previously performed the role of Leporello – I’m interested if reprising the role felt familiar, or are you changing your interpretation for your performance with Opera Australia?

Yes, I’ve performed the role many times in several different productions. But every time it feels like you are creating it from scratch.

The role is like a good meal – yes there are the same ingredients, but the result is always different.

You have performed extensively across Europe in your career. Have you found there to be many similarities or differences internationally, and how are you enjoying working in Australia?

In my experience the opera world is very international, but of course every country is different. What is important is the professionalism, and Opera Australia is very professional, it is a great pleasure and honour to work here.

Of course there is a “special” Australian touch. The people are very nice, which is something I can not say about every place at which I’ve performed.

And looking ahead, can you share with us what you will be working on following Don Giovanni with Opera Australia, and what can we look forward to from you next?

For now, I have no future contracts with Opera Australia (even though I had a great proposition but unfortunately am already busy at that time). From Sydney I am going to Israel where I’m going to take part in two productions in a row with the Israeli opera.

The first is a contemporary opera Theodor that tells the life story of Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionism movement. And then a pure classic, Il Trovatore, in which I will be singing the role of Ferrando.

Buy tickets for Don Giovanni at Sydney Opera House

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