A colorless Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera

By Edward Sava-Segal, 17 April 2019

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“the Swedish baritone is still one of the best Don Giovannis around”

Reviewed at Lincoln Center: Metropolitan Opera House, New York City on 15 April 2019

Mozart, Don Giovanni

Metropolitan Opera

Cornelius Meister, Conductor

Michael Grandage, Director

Christopher Oram, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Peter Mattei, Don Giovanni

Adam Plachetka, Leporello

Guanqun Yu, Donna Anna

Susanna Phillips, Donna Elvira

Serena Malfi, Zerlina

Dmitry Belosselskiy, The Commendatore

Paul Appleby, Don Ottavio

Kihwan Sim, Masetto

Louisa Muller, Revival Director

The Metropolitan Opera Chorus

The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Asmik Grigorian strengthens the Met’s revival of Eugene Onegin

Susan Stempleski, 20th April

The Lithuanian soprano’s riveting performance as the central character in Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece lights up Deborah Warner’s mostly bland production.

****1

Innocence: Saariaho’s final opera receives New York premiere

Kurt Gottschalk, 6th April

At the Metropolitan Opera, Innocence proves a gripping and perhaps divisive piece which feels real because it is a reflection of our reality, with no realistic hope of finding peace.

*****

Tristan und Isolde at the Met: staging gets in the way of the music

No’a L. bat Miri, 9th March

Michael Spyres shines in his debut as Tristan alongside powerhouse soprano Lise Davidsen as Isolde in Yuval Sharon's new, beguiling production at the Metropolitan Opera.

***11

Ailyn Pérez is the perfect Butterfly in the Met’s revival

Robert Levine, 13th January

Good Butterflys are not that difficult to come by but great ones are very very rare. Ailyn Pérez fits the bill in this revival of Anthony Minghella’s classic staging.

*****

Vocal thrills in Met’s traditional staging of Bellini’s I puritani

Susan Stempleski, 31st December

Marco Armiliato conducts a finely balanced rendition of Bellini's final masterpiece with a stellar cast headed by Lisette Oropesa and Lawrence Brownlee.

*****

Porgy and Bess returns stronger than ever at the Met

Robert Levine, 7th December

Back to Catfish Row for another revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and James Robinson’s show continue to wow our writer.

*****

More reviews...

Edward Sava-Segal

Edward has been living in New York for the last 25 years, one of the reasons being the extraordinarily rich cultural life in this city. He has studied piano and classical music in his early years. He switched later on to computer science and data architecture but he kept an unwavering interest in following the classical music phenomenon here in New York and in his travels. Edward occasionally reviews fine arts events for the most prestigious literary magazine in Romania, his home country.