Performer: Opera New Jersey

For more than half a century since the 1960s, several productions featuring some of the best-known celebrities in the opera world have set high standards for Puccini’s Tosca, that “shabby little shocker,” as a musicologist once called it.

When an ensemble of strong voices extends and nearly expends themselves, pouring out their artistry in tribute to Mozart’s genius, operagoers will stand during bows—eagerly. That is precisely what occurred during Opera New Jersey's July 11 performance of Don Giovanni. The cast received a standing ovation from a packed house, deservedly so.