Mozart's Don Giovanni from the Salzburg Festival (Opera)

In Claus Guth's almost cinematic production of Don Giovanni, every character in Mozart's most realistic opera appears to be seeking either salvation or damnation in the woods -- a compelling set concept that removes the opera from the traditional pseudo-Seville squares and palaces. In the dense forest planted on the stage of the Haus für Mozart, the rugged macho Don Giovanni, assisted by his unsavory accomplice Leporello, lures the ladies with the heady scent of danger. Christopher Maltman embodies Don Giovanni as an almost reluctant seducer -- a man fated to bring misery to women and, ultimately, to himself. He heads an outstanding cast for a production that, by its very originality, demonstrates the strength of Mozart's original conception.