Don Juan no existe

At the beginning of the 20th century, a countess attends a performance of Don Giovanni accompanied by two close friends. She observes the stage, the characters, but fails to connect with the piece. However, a creative impulse arises: to write her own Don Juan. We accompany Carmen Díaz de Mendoza Aguado, the Countess of San Luis, to her desk.

She begins to write, but it is not only her own voice that she hears, but that of her insecurities, of society or even of a ghost that stops her. She is alone, despite having her friend Miguel close by, and he too does not understand why she should go ahead with this strange project. The premiere arrives and the play fails. It is 2024 and a new creator is trying to complete an opera, trying to complete what happened to the premiere of Don Juan no existe by Carmen Díaz de Mendoza Aguado.

She has found newspaper clippings about the premiere, but there is almost nothing left of the Countess, nor of the text; she has to invent it in order to talk about her. The antagonist's voice appears again, although this time it is different, it does not make the author doubt. They converse; he asks: why do we have to look so hard for this countess? But the author is convinced of her task and will continue her search. Thus is born this opera by Helena Cánovas Parés, winner of the Carmen Mateu Young Prize.

An opera that wants to pay tribute to all those women who have been erased from history for the simple fact of having been born women.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Contemporary opera in two acts

Libretto: Alberto Iglesias

Co-production of the Festival Peralada, Gran Teatre del Liceu and Teatro de la Maestranza, with the participation of the Teatro Real and the Teatros del Canal.

Premiere in the Community of Madrid

Artistic team

Conductor: Jhoanna Sierralta

Direcot: Bárbara Lluch

Stage design: Blanca Añón

Costumes: Clara Peluffo

Lighting design: Urs Schönebaum

Sound design:  Sixto Cámara

Cast

Carmen (Condesa de San Luis), Helena: Soprano

Agustín, Don Juan: Josep- Ramon Olivé

Miguel: Pablo García-López

Solistas de la Orquesta Titular del Teatro Real