DON GIOVANNI

Few operas surpass Don Giovanni for sheer dramatic power. Mozart's opera starts as the libertine rapes a Spanish lady and slays her father. It ends as he is dragged into the fires of hell.

At the climax of Lee Blakeley's production for the Academy of Vocal Arts, Giovanni lies dead on his dining room table, his white shirt soaked in blood.

That shocking climax caps a powerful Don Giovanni. Blakeley clearly sees Mozart's opera through a dark glass. Peter Harrison's black set is punctuated by searing white lights and a couple of artfully used white sheets.

Through that stark setting, Blakeley boldly moves the characters. This Don Giovanni has a sharp dramatic edge reflected in Christofer Macatsoris' intense reading of the score.

Macatsoris urges his orchestra to produce a dark, tautly focused sound that charges Mozart's music with sinister overtones. The pace -- both visually and musically -- never relaxes in this provocative production.

Urged on by the director and conductor, the Academy's young singers attack Mozart's music fearlessly. Their voices soar through the intimate Helen Corning Warden Theater with tremendous impact.