Christopher Maltman

As Aragon descends into unrest, a count jealously fights for a noble lady's heart. But she has already given it to a passionate troubadour whose mother holds a terrible secret.

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Helped by his shrewd servant, a serial seducer flaunts society's rules until he brings about his own downfall. Mozart's audacious opera combines enchanting music with a central character of fascinating psychological complexity, an archetypal figure who continues to provide food for thought 230 years after its creation. Christof Loy's production stars Christopher Maltman as Don Giovanni, now a desperate and lonely anti-hero, always eluded by success.

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Composer Nico Muhly unveils his second new opera for the Met with this gripping reimagining of Winston Graham’s novel, set in the 1950s, about a beautiful, mysterious young woman who assumes multiple identities. Director Michael Mayer and his creative team have devised a fast-moving, cinematic world for this exhilarating story of denial and deceit, which also inspired a film by Alfred Hitchcock. Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard sings the enigmatic Marnie, and baritone Christopher Maltman is the man who pursues her—with disastrous results. Robert Spano conducts.

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Two men enter a bet with intriguer Alfonso that their women will stay true, but disguise themselves, switch partners, and regretfully seduce their targets.

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A rarely performed bel canto gem, Rossini’s Semiramide returned to the Met for the first time in nearly 25 years during the 2017–18 season. Set in ancient Babylon under the reign of the mythic Queen Semiramis, the opera features political scheming, mistaken identity, divine intervention, and bloodthirsty revenge—not to mention one virtuosic vocal display after another. Soprano Angela Meade is the fierce title monarch, whose quest for power comes to a halt with the discovery that the object of her affection, the warrior Arsace—sung by mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong—may actually be her long-lost son. Together, the two square off in a pair of dazzling duets and deliver some of the opera’s most challenging arias. Bel canto specialist Maurizio Benini takes the podium to lead a cast that also stars tenor Javier Camarena as the ardent prince Idreno, bass Ildar Abdrazakov as the scheming Assur, and bass Ryan Speedo Green as the stern high priest Oroe.

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Based on real events and drawing on Georg Büchner's revolutionary play, Alban Berg's Wozzeck turns a grimly tragic narrative of violence and murder into one of the most powerful and original operas of the 20th century. Berg's uncompromising portrayal of brutality and madness generated much controversy, but the significance of Wozzeck was soon recognised; its compelling lyrical expansiveness, large-scale dramatic gestures and remarkable musical structures producing music of overwhelming emotional intensity. The Financial Times declared this to be 'a beautiful, moving, engrossing production… this is a consummate Wozzeck, blending clarity, lyricism, compassion and crushing force.'

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This Wagner opera is rarely performed because of the scandals that engulfed the Magdeburg Theatre when it was performed in 1836 under the title The Novice of Palermo, and became known as a cursed opera from which the composer had to distance himself. Wagner's adaptation of the story reflects the rebellious mood of a Revolutionary Germany, vindicating sensual love and attack the fanatical repression of sexuality by a puritanical and hypocritical authority. As the prose says, "Shame to him whose cruel striking/Kills for faults of his own liking!". One of the most extraordinary musicals based on a text by Shakespeare, especially worthy of a new performance as it is four hundred years since the death of the Bard.

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A youthful cast brings Rossini’s immortal comedy to sparkling life, led by Christopher Maltman as Figaro, the resourceful barber and man-about-town of the title. The lovely Isabel Leonard is Rosina, the clever young woman at the center of the story, and Lawrence Brownlee sings Count Almaviva, the man who loves her and—with Figaro’s help—rescues her from the house of her elderly and smitten guardian, Bartolo, played by Maurizio Muraro. Paata Burchuladze is the bumbling music master Basilio, and rising conductor and bel canto specialist Michele Mariotti leads the Met’s musical forces in Bartlett Sher’s lively production.

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In June 2014, London’s Royal Opera House presented Jonathan Kent’s new production of Manon Lescaut. With a stellar cast, including Kristīne Opolais and Jonas Kaufmann in the roles of the young lovers Manon Lescaut and Chevalier des Grieux, Jonathan Kent brings this 19th century classic to a 2014 setting, both non-naturalistic and theatrical. Supporting the action on stage is the Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with their venerable Music Director Antonio Pappano.

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Sarah Connolly's 'outstanding' (The Guardian) portrayal of the wronged Roman noblewoman, written originally for Kathleen Ferrier, lies at the hear of David McVicar's powerfully stark production for English National Opera as 'an everyday sort of woman who could be living at any time or place'. Her nemesis is the arrogant Tarquinius of Christopher Maltman, 'who made the air tingle with danger' (Financial Times). Sung in English.

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The successful artist and playboy Juan is a notorious seducer of women, through his ability to be just what a woman dreams of: Charming, charismatic, strong, sensitive, sexual. Driven by a restless urge to conquer new women, use them, and throw them away, he has hired his friend Leporello to help create a masterpiece: A filmed database of all the women whose dreams Juan has shattered. We follow Juan and Leporello through 24 compressed hours. Juan seduces the young upper-class girl Anna, but ends up accidentally killing her father, a powerful police commissioner. The two friends run away, but Juan's constant need to seduce new women keeps interrupting their flight. As the police gains in on them, Juan also steals the young bride Zerlina from her groom Masetto, and soon a feverish manhunt is on for Juan.

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But I, being poor, have only my dreams. I have spread my dreams under your feet. Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams... So begins Deborah Warner’s captivating 2008 production of Purcell’s timeless opera Dido and Æneas: a careful warning that suits the tragic story only too well. Swedish mezzo-soprano Malena Ernman as a disarming Dido is at the head of a stellar cast joined by Les Arts Florissants under William Christie’s direction.

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A striking interpretation of Mozart's opera that became a sensation at the 2008 Salzburg Festival. This is not only a rethinking of the place and time of the opera, but also a deep disclosure of the characters' characters, their ambiguous inner world. A simple, at first glance, plot is turned by the creators of the play into a dynamic psychological thriller.

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Opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder.

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David McVicar’s production of Giulio Cesare manages to combine serious insight with entertainment, bringing Handel's masterpiece to life in a powerful, convincing and highly intelligent way. ln every line of the complex narrative the subtle nuances are apparent, reflecting perfectly the transparent and exquisite nature of Handel's musical expression. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true surround sound, the outstanding singing of the all-star cast, led superbly by Sarah Connolly, and the vivid playing of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under the energising baton of William Christie reveal the colour and dramatic character of Handel’s music in a most delightful manner.

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Nikolaus Harnoncourt leads the Concentus Musicus Vienna and Arnold Schoenberg Choir in a concert of Bach music at Austria's Kloster Melk Benedictine Monastery. Works included in this celebration of the coming of Christmas are Cantata BWV 61, "Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland"; Cantata BWV 147, "Herz und Mund"; and Magnificat in D Major BWV 243. Soloists are Christine Schafer, Anna Korondi, Bernarda Fink, Ian Bostridge, Christopher Maltman. With the Concentus Musicus Vienna and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir.

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An adaptation from the controversial John Adams opera about the true life incident that took place in the mid 80s. The liner "Achille Lauro" is on a 12-day cruise in the Mediterranean. While the ship is docked in Alexandria, a maid discovers that four of the passengers are actually members of the Palestine Liberation Organization traveling incognito. Startled by their discovery, the PLO cadre is forced to act. They take the passengers on board hostage and demand the release of 50 Palestinian activists held in Israeli jails. As Egyptian, American, Italian, and Palestinian authorities bicker over the best way to handle the situation (and who would negotiate with the terrorists), the kidnappers find themselves dealing with rebellion among their captives, and an argument between the four PLO members and Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish-American confined to a wheelchair, eventually escalates into violence.

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Didon et Énée by François Roussillon. A beautifully performed musical.

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