Mozart’s Don Giovanni receives a new production by Tony Award–winning director Ivo van Hove in his Met debut

Maestro Nathalie Stutzmann conducts, marking her first appearance at the Met
Cast includes the incomparable Peter Mattei in the title role, as well as Federica Lombardi, Ana María Martínez, Ying Fang, Ben Bliss, and Adam Plachetka
The Met: Live in HD transmission of Don Giovanni to reach global audiences in cinemas on May 20

New York, NY (May 2, 2023)—Ivo van Hove, the Tony Award–winning director of Broadway’s A View from the Bridge, makes a major Met debut with Mozart’s Don Giovanni (May 5–June 2), re-setting the familiar tale of deceit and damnation in an abstract architectural landscape and shining a light into the work’s dark corners.

Also making her Met debut, Maestro Nathalie Stutzmann leads a star-studded cast that includes baritone Peter Mattei, considered one of today’s great Don Giovanni interpreters, alongside the Leporello of bass-baritone Adam Plachetka. Sopranos Federica Lombardi, Ana María Martínez, and Ying Fang portray Giovanni’s conquests—Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Zerlina—with tenor Ben Bliss as Don Ottavio, bass-baritone Alfred Walker as Masetto, and bass-baritone Alexander Tsymbalyuk and bass Dmitry Belosselskiy sharing the role of the Commendatore. Soprano Andrea Caroll sings Zerlina for the performance on June 2.

The creative team includes set and lighting designer Jan Versweyveld, costume designer An D’Huys, and projection designer Christopher Ash, all making their Met debuts, as well as choreographer Sara Erde.

The production is the first of two new Mozart stagings opening at the Met in May. Die Zauberflöte opens on May 19, also conducted by Maestro Stutzmann, and directed by Simon McBurney, who is making his Met debut.

Fridays Under 40

The Met’s Fridays Under 40 series continues Friday, May 12, with a party ahead of the evening performance of Don Giovanni. Available exclusively for operagoers 40 and under, the event features complimentary wine, themed activities, and more. For further details, please click here.

Don Giovanni Worldwide Broadcasts in Cinema, Radio, and Online

The May 20 performance will be transmitted to cinemas worldwide as part of the company’s The Met: Live in HD series.

The May 5 and May 9 performances of Don Giovanni will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SiriusXM Channel 355. Audio from the May 5 and May 9 performance will also be streamed live on the Met’s website, metopera.org. The performance on May 20 will be broadcast over the Toll Brothers—Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

Don Giovanni Artist Biographies

French conductor and contralto Nathalie Stutzmann makes her Metropolitan Opera debut leading Don Giovanni. As the recently appointed music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra—only the second woman to lead a major American orchestra—she is considered one of the most outstanding musical personalities of our time. She has also been the principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2021 and chief conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra in Norway since 2018. The core of her repertoire includes Central European and Russian Romantic works, as well as 19th-century French repertoire. She has led celebrated productions of Tannhäuser in Monte Carlo and Mefistofele at the Festival Orange in France. She started this season with a new production of The Queen of Spades at La Monnaie and will conclude it with Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival. She is also an award-winning contralto who has performed on more than 80 recordings. Her most recent album, Contralto (2021), was awarded Scherzo’s “Exceptional” seal, Opera Magazine’s Diamant d’Or, and RTL’s Classique d’Or. She was named a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest honor, and a Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.

Swedish baritone Peter Mattei stars as Don Giovanni. Known as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of the role, he has sung it at the Paris Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Royal Swedish Opera, Norwegian National Opera, and Salzburg Festival. Since his 2002 Met debut as the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro, he has sung more than 150 performances of 11 roles, including Rodrigo in Verdi’s Don Carlo earlier this season, Amfortas in Parsifal, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Wolfram in Tannhäuser, Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades, Marcello in La Bohème, Shishkov in From the House of the Dead, and the title roles of Wozzeck, Don Giovanni, and Eugene Onegin. Other recent performances include Wozzeck in Valencia; the Count, Amfortas, Shishkov, and Eugene Onegin at the Paris Opera; Eugene Onegin and Rodrigo in Zurich; the Count at the Vienna State Opera; Amfortas at the Royal Swedish Opera; Eugene Onegin at the Vienna State Opera and Salzburg Festival; and Shishkov and Wolfram at La Scala.

Chinese soprano Ying Fang returns to the Met as Zerlina in Don Giovanni, following her appearance earlier this season as Ilia in Idomeneo. She made her Met debut as Madame Podtochina’s Daughter in The Nose. Recent performances include Susanna at the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival, Santa Fe Opera, Paris Opera, Dutch National Opera, and Opera Philadelphia; Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera in concert at the Verbier Festival; Morgana in Handel’s Alcina at Washington National Opera; Ännchen in Der Freischütz at Dutch National Opera; Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and Zerlina at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Ilia at the Salzburg Festival; and Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore in Vancouver. She is a graduate of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

Guatemalan Austrian American soprano Andrea Carroll makes her Met debut in this new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni as Zerlina, a role that she has performed at La Scala and the Vienna State Opera. This season, she has made a number of notable debuts, including at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in the role of Micaëla in Carmen and as Cunegonde in a new production of Candide at the Opéra National de Lyon. She is also scheduled to make her Canadian Opera Company debut as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and return to Palm Beach Opera as Nannetta in Falstaff.

Italian soprano Frederica Lombardi returns to the Met as Donna Anna in this new production of Don Giovanni after making her house debut in the same work as Donna Elvira in 2019. She has since performed at the Met in roles including the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Musetta in La Bohème, and Elettra in Idomeneo, the last earlier this season. Among her recent performance highlights are Amelia Grimaldi in Simon Boccanegra; the Countess at Covent Garden; Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and the Countess at Staatsoper Berlin; Donna Elvira at the Salzburg Festival, Vienna State Opera, and in Madrid and Hamburg; the Countess at the Bavarian State Opera and Vienna State Opera; Fiordiligi in Valencia; and Elettra at La Scala. She has also sung Donna Elvira in Wiesbaden; Donna Anna in Bologna, Cologne, and Nancy; Fiordiligi at the Bavarian State Opera and in Turin and Rome; the Countess in Rome; Donna Anna, Fiordiligi, Micaëla in Carmen, and the Countess at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Musetta, the title role of Anna Bolena, and Fiammetta in La Cena delle Beffe at La Scala; and Micaëla in Bangkok.

Grammy Award–winning soprano Ana María Martínez returns to the Met to sing Donna Elivira in this new production of Don Giovanni. She made her Met debut as Micaëla in Carmen in 2005 and has also appeared as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly and Musetta in La Bohème. She has sung the title roles of Rusalka and Carmen, Florencia Grimaldi in Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, Mimì in La Bohème, Elisabetta di Valois in Don Carlo, Soleá in Penella Moreno’s El Gato Montés, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, Nedda in Pagliacci, Liù in Turandot, Marguerite in Faust, Alice Ford in Falstaff, Desdemona in Otello, and Amelia Grimaldi in Simon Boccanegra on stages around the world, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, Ópera de Puerto Rico, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and Covent Garden. In 2019, she became Houston Grand Opera’s first artistic advisor, and in 2021, she joined the voice faculty at Rice University.

Tenor Ben Bliss returns to the Met as Don Ottavio in this new production of Don Giovanni after starring as Tamino in The Magic Flute earlier this season. He made his company debut in 2014 as Vogelgesang in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, followed by performances as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, the Steersman in Der Fliegende Holländer, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, and Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress. Recent performances elsewhere include Pylade in Iphigénie en Tauride in Rouen; Ferrando at San Francisco Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, and the Canadian Opera Company; Don Ottavio in Barcelona and at Lyric Opera of Chicago and Houston Grand Opera; Belmonte at Lyric Opera of Kansas City; and Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw at Seattle Opera. He is a graduate of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and was a 2021 recipient of the Met’s Beverly Sills Award.

Czech bass-baritone Adam Plachetka returns to the Met as Leporello after an appearance earlier in the season as Balstrode in Peter Grimes. In 2015, he made his Met debut as Masetto in Don Giovanni and has also previously performed the role of Leporello. At the Met he has sung Garibaldo in Rodelinda, the Count and Figaro in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, and Sgt. Belcore in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore. Following his debut at the Prague National Theatre in 2005, his other engagements include Přemysl ze Stadic in Libuše, the Count and Figaro, Vladislav in Dalibor, and Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia; Mustafà in L’Italiana in Algeri at La Scala; Figaro, Alidoro in La Cenerentola, Leporello, Dr. Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’Amore, Chorèbe in Les Troyens, Riccardo in I Puritani, Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale, the title role of Don Giovanni, and Mustafà at the Vienna State Opera; Figaro at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at the Salzburg Festival; Publio in La Clemenza di Tito in concert in Baden-Baden; and Sgt. Belcore at Covent Garden.

American bass-baritone Alfred Walker sings the role of Masetto. Since his 1998 debut as Grégorio in Roméo et Juliette, he has sung nearly 200 performances of 21 roles, including Crown in the Porgy and Bess, the Speaker in The Magic Flute, Titurel in Parsifal, Parsi Rustomji in Philip Glass’s Satyagraha, and Wagner in Faust. This season, he sings Enobarbus in the world premiere of John Adams’s Antony and Cleopatra at San Francisco Opera, Amonasro in concert at Detroit Opera, Peter in Hänsel und Gretel at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with the LA Philharmonic, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and the title role of Saint-Saëns’s Henry VIII at Bard SummerScape. He is a graduate of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

Ukrainian bass-baritone Alexander Tsymbalyuk returns to the Met after an appearance earlier in the season as the Old Convict in the Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. He made his Met debut as Ferrando in Il Trovatore. At the Met, he has also appeared as Lodovico in Otello, Timur in Turandot, and the Nightwatchman in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. His recent appearances include at Staatsoper Hamburg in Eugene Onegin, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli in Don Carlo, and concert performances of Rigoletto at Musikfest Bremen and Festival Berlioz La Côte Saint André, as well as a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at La Seine Musicale.

Russian bass Dmitry Belosselskiy sings the role of the Commendatore. He made his Met debut as Zaccaria in Nabucco in 2011, and his appearances with the company also include Ramfis in Aida, the Old Convict in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Don Ruy Gomez de Silva in Ernani, Wurm in Luisa Miller, the Old Hebrew in Samson et Dalila, and Fafner in Das Rheingold.

Belgian director Ivo van Hove makes his Met debut. He began his career as a stage director in 1981 and he has served as general director of Internationaal Theater Amsterdam since 2001. He made his Broadway debut in 2015 with A View from the Bridge (winning a Tony for Best Direction of a Play) and returned with productions of The Crucible, Network, and West Side Story. His work has also appeared at the Comédie-Française, Münchner Kammerspiele, London’s National Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Paris Opera, Polish National Opera, Komische Oper Berlin, Dutch National Opera, and Madrid’s Teatro Real, among many others. His numerous accolades include the Grand Prix de la Critique in France, an Olivier Award for A View from the Bridge at the Young Vic, two Obie Awards, a Drama Desk Award, the Flemish Culture Prize for Overall Cultural Merit, the Johannes Vermeer Prize, and, together with longtime collaborator Jan Versweyveld, the Proscenium Award and the Amsterdam Award for the Arts.

Scenographer and lighting designer Jan Versweyveld makes his Met debut. A longtime collaborator of director Ivo van Hove, he trained at the SintLucas Institute in Brussels and at the Royal Academy in Antwerp. In the 1980s, he and van Hove were two of the founders of the Flemish theater groups Akt/Vertikaal and Toneelproducties De Tijd. In 1990, he became the regular set designer for the Zuidelijk Toneelgroep, and in 2001, he became head of scenography for Internationaal Theater Amsterdam. He has also designed for London’s National Theatre, the Young Vic, the Comédie-Française, Schaubühne Berlin, Théâtre de L’Odéon, the Munich Kammerspiele, the Paris Opera, the Komische Oper Berlin, Madrid’s Teatro Real, and Dutch National Opera, as well as for Broadway productions of A View from the Bridge, The Crucible, Network, and West Side Story. His many awards and honors include five Tony Award nominations, the 2016 Knight of Illumination Award, the 2015 Amsterdam Award for the Arts for proven quality (with van Hove), and an Obie Award.

Costume designer An D’Huys, who has been working with Ivo van Hove since 2002, makes her Met debut. She studied fashion at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. She was part of the design team for Ann Demeulemeester for more than a decade, and her theater credits include All About Eve and A View from the Bridge in the West End; A View from the Bridge, Network, and West Side Story on Broadway; Network and Hedda Gabler at London’s National Theatre; Obsession in London, Paris, and Luxembourg; Lazarus at New York Theatre Workshop; Medea at Vienna’s Burgtheater; The Damned at the Comédie-Française; and A Little Life, Husbands and Wives, The Fountainhead, and Antigone at Internationaal Theater Amsterdam. Her designs have also appeared at Dutch National Opera, the Paris Opera, the Polish National Opera, Antwerp’s Opera Vlaanderen, and Brussels’s Royal Theatre of La Monnaie, as well as in films including Jaco van Dormael’s Toto le Héros and Patrice Toye’s Rosie.

Philadelphia-based designer and filmmaker Christopher Ash makes his Met debut. Equally at home designing projections, scenery, and lighting for theater, opera, and dance, as well as direction and cinematography for film, he has had work produced in 16 countries and recognized for 15 awards. He made his Broadway debut in 2015 as assistant scenic designer for On the Town and has since contributed to productions of An Act of God, Sunday in the Park with George, Prince of Broadway, Saint Joan, The Crucible, and Network—the last two directed by Ivo van Hove. He has created work for numerous regional American theaters, as well as for productions at the Paris Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and Lyric Opera of Chicago, among others.

American choreographer Sara Erde trained at New York’s Ballet Hispánico with Tina Ramirez. Since 1996, she has served as a Met choreographer, movement director, revival stage director, assistant stage director, movement coach, and dancer. Notable credits elsewhere include choreographer for Manon Lescaut in Baden-Baden, Madama Butterfly and Ariadne auf Naxos at Berkshire Opera Festival, Carmen at Washington National Opera and the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy, and Ercole su’l Termodonte at Italy’s Festival dei Due Mondi; associate director and choreographer for Roméo et Juliette and Madama Butterfly at Atlanta Opera; associate director for La Forza del Destino and Don Giovanni at Washington National Opera; and assistant director for Le Nozze di Figaro at the Santa Fe Opera and Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival. Her work has also appeared at the Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Classic Stage Company.