Don Giovanni with Michael Gow
Interview - July 14, 2026
Quick Questions
One word to describe this production of Don Giovanni with OA
Intense
Favourite song or piece of music at the moment
The Canzonetta from Act 2 of Don Giovanni. A simple but beautiful song; you almost believe he’s in love. He isn’t - ever.
What is your dream work that you haven't tackled yet?
Something big and German, Tannhauser or Electra.
Opera you think is a bit underrated:
I wish someone would let me do Mozart’s Idomineo. Incredible music and great characters, but not really known here.
Fun fact about you most people don’t know:
I love British steam engines. And science fiction.
About 2026
I’m going to spend two months in Lucca in Tuscany. It’s a beautiful city which still has its 16th century walls but not many tourists, except for the summer festival (Katy Perry’s the headliner this year) and the Comics and Game expo end of October. Then it’s packed. It’s also where Puccini is from. So I’ll be getting stuck into Italian. Reflecting on the last six month, I wish I’d worked harder at Italian. I find it a hard language to learn and Don G is my first show in Italian. I directed one of my plays immediately before Don G started and I reneged on my vow never to do back to back shows.
After Don Giovanni, I have another show for Opera Australia, that I can’t say much as they haven’t launched 2027. But beyond that, I am back to writing.
About Don Giovanni
It’s a revival so time is short. It is also in Italian this time, not the English version I did twelve years ago. But the cast is a great mix of experienced singers and newcomers and they’re all working really well together. Simon Bruckard, our conductor, is a great collaborator. He pulls me up on things I might be missing and is a great musician and fun. He also comes comes from an Italian background so I lean on him a bit to help with the language.
I want audiences to experience how insanely gifted Mozart was, and I hope they discuss or even argue about how terrible Don G actually is as a person. He treats everyone badly but there’s also something brutally honest about him.
It’s a double cast, one plays principles one show then chorus the next. I’ve always tried to give the singers the space to come up with their own versions, rather than one cast recreate the other cast’s version. That’s a lot to hold in your head at the same time (well for me at least).
About His Opera Journey
I’ve always loved opera . I think being Amahl in Amahl and the Night Visitors as a kid was what did it.
I first approached OA in the nineties. Maybe because I’m also a playwright and obsessed with clear story telling, I’ve always been given slightly out of the ordinary mainstream pieces to direct. Also operas with difficult names; Iphigenie en Tauride, The Abduction from the Seraglio, for example. I’ve alternated between main stage shows, which I’ve enjoyed, and national tours, which I really love. I’ve done three Mozart’s; Don G, Magic Flute and Figaro that have toured the country. I like meeting people in regional towns, who really love coming out and seeing these great works. And the tours have children from the area as the chorus and it’s great introducing kids to the world of music and performance. I like working with students as well and I’ve been lucky enough to do three shows at Queensland Conservatorium. The main stage opera world can be a bit of a machine and you have to have your wits about you. You’re sometimes wrangling 60 people and that requires a lot of preparation and clarity, not like working with actors where you find your way much more as you go. And several times in main stage shows a major principle singer hasn’t arrived until the Piano Dress so there’s a lot of very fast downloading of the production and directing on the run to get them up to speed.
About Australia
I would like to see more new Australian work, something OA and Victorian Opera are doing their best to make happen; as well as, some of the smaller cutting edge companies.
Image by Opera Australia
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