Enterprisingly, Opera Australia has enticed Scottish director David McVicar to create new productions of three Mozart operas, beginning with Don Giovanni, currently playing in Sydney (Figaro and Così will follow in 2015 and 2016, respectively). We saw the fifth of thirteen performances scheduled in this long opening season, and already the production was in superb shape – one of the finest Mozarts we have seen from this company in years.

 For once, Sydney’s stage seems fitting in scale, almost ample. Robert Jones’s design is monochrome and crepuscular. We think of Kiefer’s ruined cities as the curtain rises after the bracing overture. Rarely has this small stage felt so deep, so ominous. There is a graveyard in the distance, but death is ubiquitous, with skulls and debris lining the blasted walls and alcoves.