Cultural Cocktail Hour

LA’s Top Picks

LA’s Top Cultural picks

A dash of Mozart and a literal blast from the past make the recipe for this week’s explosive

Cultural Cocktail

by

Leticia Marie Sanchez

Cultural Cocktail Hour® is a registered trademark

The scent-sational Don Giovanni at LA Opera

“I think I smell a woman,” Don Giovanni remarks in LA Opera’s hilarious interpretation of Mozart’s opera starring Ildebrando D’Arcangelo as the infamous ladies man. The clean lines and simplicity of Ferdinand Wogerbauer’s set allows Mozart’s music to reign supreme. A simple crescent moon adorns the curtain. A coincidence? Methinks not. The moon, or luna can be seen as a visual metaphor for lunacy, and women lose their minds for the dashing Don Juan. Finnish Soprano Soile Isokoski’s sensitive interpretation of the long suffering noble Elvira adds a layer of pathos that makes her the perfect foil to Don Giovanni’s light-hearted and mischievous servant Leoporello, played with effective and entertaining physical comedy by David Bizic.

Sun 9/30/12 2:00PM; Wed 10/3/12 7:30PM; Sat 10/6/12 7:30PM

Wed 10/10/12 7:30PM

Sun 10/14/12 2:00PM

http://www.laopera.com/

Photo Left: Ildebrando D’Arcangelo as Don Giovanni, Courtesy of LA Opera

The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection

At the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Villa

September 12, 2012—January 7, 2013

The Getty Villa’s expansive exhibit on Pompeii includes a vast array of artists ranging from Salvador Dalí and Mark Rothko to Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Marcel Duchamp. Perhaps the most intriguing portrait belongs to the one painted by Irish artist Alfred Elmore in 1878. His painting depicts two young ladies in thoughtful repose, with the faint trace of Vesuvius smoldering behind them. The meaning behind this beautiful painting is ambiguous. Are the ladies blissfully unaware of their impending doom? Or have they calmly resigned themselves to their fate, choosing to spend their last Earthly moments in a comforting embrace? See the painting for yourself to decide.

http://www.getty.edu/

Left: Alfred Elmore. Pompeii, A.D. 79, 1878. Oil on canvas. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund.

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