(Photo: Michael Bode) For its final production of the year, the Baden-Baden Festival presented Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” from December 19 to 21. It was conducted by Iván Fischer with baton and on the plateau, because the conductor, like Karajan before him, also directed the staging. The foremost quality of this production was undoubtedly the silky smoothness and harmony of the {…}
A new cast took over the Met Opera’s run of “Don Giovanni” on Nov. 6, 2025 to stunning results. I’ve said this before, but casting is such a complex task in the opera world. Most of these productions have to be cast years before they take place and often rely on projections of where certain artists will be vocally and {…}
(Photo: © Opéra Grand Avignon) From October 10 to 14, Opéra Grand Avignon is staging Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” in a production by Belgian director Frédéric Roels and Israeli-Brazilian conductor Débora Waldman. First, we must salute the fluid and natural musical direction of the conductor with the Orchestre National Avignon-Provence, which beautifully recreates Mozart’s silky orchestral lacework. Nevertheless, the orchestra speeds {…}
(Photo: Ken Howard / Met Opera) Metropolitan Opera’s season premiere of Ivo van Hove’s production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” took place on September 24, 2025. Van Hove’s production originally debuted at Ópera National de Paris in 2019 at the Palais Garnier and OperaWire reviewed the performance in detail, specifically highlighting the set design and overall aesthetic. It is also important {…}
(Credit: Karen Almond) The Metropolitan Opera is set to revive Ivo van Hove’s production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” The opera will be performed 14 times between Sept. 24 and Nov. 22, 2025 and will showcase Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting the first cast. Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green takes on the title role with a cast that includes Federica Lombardi, Ben Bliss, Janai {…}
(Photo: © Monika Rittershaus) “Don Giovanni” is an opera of seductions and escapes, moral wreckage and divine retribution, a shimmering mosaic of comedy, tragedy, farce, and existential dread. Yet “the mother of all operas” is also a uniquely treacherous work—at once alluring and intractable, irresistibly open yet elusive. Music’s sublimity rarely fails to connect with audiences, even in a less-than-stellar {…}
The new Robert Icke staging of “Don Giovanni” might upset more than a few spirits. The scenic proposal is certainly disruptive, and its insistence on intervening digitally in the opera’s soundscape is the most acute symptom of “directivitis” (the terrible disease that has afflicted opera directors for the last seven decades). However, I really had a great time watching “Don {…}
(Credit: Ken Howard) The producers of “Mozart’s Don Giovanni: A Rock Opera” have made the decision to put the production on a brief hiatus. Per an official press release, the decision was made as a result of the intense summer heat in New York City. “While the venue has been a wonderful partner and home for our launch, current temperature {…}
This summer, New York’s Cutting Room will play host to a production of “Mozart’s Don Giovanni: A Rock Opera.” The famed opera staple will get new life in a reimagining translated, orchestrated, and directed by Adam B. Levowitz. “The power of Don Giovanni has always been the story — that hasn’t changed. What I changed is some of what the {…}
Opera Philadelphia is set to close its 2024-2025 season with Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” The opera will be performed at the historic Academy of Music in a new production led by American stage director Alison Moritz. Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris will lead the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra, with Elizabeth Braden leading the Opera Philadelphia Chorus. In a statement, Moritz said, “Working on this {…}
(Photos: Marco Borrelli) The Opéra de Monte-Carlo ushered in the new year with two standout productions as part of the “Mozart in Monaco” festival, organized by the resident Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. The festival’s first offering was a semi-staged “Don Giovanni,” presented by the Wiener Staatsoper on January 19th. Cecilia Bartoli, director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, continued her fruitful {…}