Christopher Maltman stars as Don Giovanni in Claus Guth’s celebrated production at the Teatro Real de Madrid on December 23, 18, 26, 28, 30, and January 2, 4, 8, 10. Maltman revisits the production after his success in the premiere at the Salzburg Festival in 2008, as well as at the Staatsoper unter den Linden in 2012, and the Dutch National Opera in 2016.

Maltman shares the stage with a starry cast including Tobias Kehrer as Il Commendatore, Brenda Rae as Donna Anna (María José Moreno – Jan. 8, 10), Mauro Peter as Don Ottavio, Anett Fritsch as Donna Elvira, Erwin Schrott as Leporello, Krysztof Baczyk as Masetto, and Louise Alder as Zerlina. Ivor Bolton conducts. Maltman garnered critical acclaim for his portrayal as the infamous title role at the Staatsoper Berlin, with the New York Times raving:

“Still, I will most remember Mr. Maltman’s genuinely brave performance, courageous not because of its histrionics but because of its restraint. He and Mr. Guth dispense with much of the part’s traditional macho swagger and winking seducer clichés, ending up with a character — and a production — as puzzling and fascinating as Mozart and Da Ponte intended. {…}

Played with haunted, haunting sensitivity by the baritone Christopher Maltman, this Giovanni seemed disarmingly sincere in his interactions, a man more sinned against than sinner. He and the other characters stumble their way through Christian Schmidt’s magnificent set — a naturalistic, ominously moonlit forest, strewed with beer cans — that evokes both fairy tales and a fallen Eden; it also revolves to give different perspectives for the opera’s many changes of scene.”

Photo: Chris Singer