Ildar Abdrazakov Sings Mozart’s Don Giovanni For the First Time at the Met

Ildar Abdrazakov takes the title role in Don Giovanni for the first time at the Met beginning November 28, conducted by Edward Gardner, in his second major Mozart role assumption of the season. The first revival of Michael Grandage's 2011 production features a cast of rising stars, almost all of whom make house role debuts in Mozart's classic opera of seduction, vengeance, and retribution. Other cast members singing their first Met performances of their roles include Susanna Phillips as Donna Anna,Emma Bell as Donna Elvira, Ekaterina Siurina as Zerlina, Charles Castronovo as Don Ottavio, Erwin Schrott as Leporello, and David Soar in his Met debut as Masetto; they are joined by Raymond Aceto as the vengeful Commendatore.

Edward Gardner, the Music Director of the English National Opera, made his Met debut in the 2010-11 season, conducting Bizet'sCarmen. He conducted Don Giovanni at ENO earlier in the current season. His recent performances with that company represent a wide range of styles, including Bohuslav Martin?'s Julietta, Britten's Billy Budd, Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer, Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin.

Earlier this season, Ildar Abdrazakov made his Met role debut in another major Mozart role, the title character in Le Nozze di Figaro. He made his Met debut as Masetto in 2004 and has also sung Leporello with the company. Abdrazakov's other recent Met performances include Dosifei in Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina, Enrico in the Met premiere of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, the Four Villains in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, and the title role in the Met premiere of Verdi's Attila, conducted by Riccardo Muti. He has sung Don Giovanni with the Washington National Opera, the Vienna State Opera, and the Mariinsky Opera in St. Petersburg.

Susanna Phillips made her Met debut as Musetta in Puccini's La Bohème in 2008 and has since sung the role 26 times with the company. She has also sung Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, both in the complete opera and the Met's abridged, English-language production. A winner of the Met's prestigious Beverly Sills Artist Award, she has sung Donna Anna with Boston Lyric Opera and Fort Worth Opera as well as Donna Elvira with Santa Fe Opera.

Emma Bell made her Met debut in 2009 as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro. The English soprano has sung Donna Elvira at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and La Scala. She sings frequently at Covent Garden, where her recent engagements have included the soprano role in Britten's War Requiem, Fox in Janá?ek's The Cunning Little Vixen, Eva in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and the title role in the U.K. premiere of Judith Weir's Miss Fortune.