Don Giovanni Portraits: The Voices Behind the Legend
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte
Chamber orchestration by Husan Chun-Novak
Wednesday, September 23, 2026 at 7:00 PM
The Engineers Club - 11 West Mount Vernon Place Baltimore, Maryland 21201
Sung in Italian with projected English translations
Running time: approximately 2 hours
Come close. Listen deeply. Meet the voices behind the legend.
Before Mozart’s Don Giovanni takes the grand stage at Stephens Hall Theatre on October 9 and 11, step inside the story through the characters whose lives it changes forever.
Don Giovanni Portraits brings audiences face to face with Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, Leporello, Zerlina, Don Ottavio, Masetto, and the legendary libertine himself. Through the opera’s most revealing scenes and arias, each character emerges with striking humanity. Their passion, desire, humor, heartbreak, and moral choices drive one of the greatest operas ever written.
Performed in Opera Baltimore’s signature up-close format at the Engineers Club, this special event puts Mozart’s music and the unamplified human voice at the center. Projected English translations make every confrontation clear, whether you are discovering Don Giovanni for the first time or returning to a beloved masterpiece.
Pianist and conductor Husan Chun-Novak leads a chamber ensemble and soloists through a newly created orchestration of Mozart’s score. Hear the details. Follow the relationships. Feel every emotional turn from only a few feet away.
Meet Don Giovanni before he meets his fate.
The Creative Team of Don Giovanni Portraits
Husan Chun-Novak, Arranger and Pianist/Conductor
Husan Chun-Novak is a pianist and conductor who has worked for over thirty years as an assistant conductor, opera pianist, and continuo player at major theaters and festivals across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Her credits include the Theater an der Wien, the Mariinsky Theatre, Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Teatro de la Zarzuela, Palau de les Arts, and Maryland Lyric Opera, and she has collaborated with conductors such as Riccardo Frizza and Speranza Scappucci and directors including Emilio Sagi and Calixto Bieito. As a recital pianist, she has performed at prestigious venues including the Musikverein Wien and the Teatro Real de Madrid. A frequent collaborator with OperaDelaware and Opera Baltimore, her 2025 arrangement of Puccini Portraits which featured extended scenes and arias from Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and La fanciulla del West, was presented in both Maryland and Delaware to significant audience acclaim. The program was repeated when OperaDelaware hosted the 2026 Opera America Conference in Wilmington, Delaware.
Inside Mozart’s Masterpiece
Mozart’s 1787 opera has held audiences for centuries because its characters refuse to remain simple. Don Giovanni is charming, predatory, fearless, and convinced that consequence will never reach him. Leporello serves him, judges him, fears him, and keeps a running record of the lives his master has disrupted.
Donna Anna seeks justice after an assault and the murder of her father. Donna Elvira arrives with fury, heartbreak, and an unwavering determination to expose the man who abandoned her. Zerlina fights to reclaim control of her future. Don Ottavio and Masetto struggle with loyalty, anger, and the limits of their own power.
In the intimate rooms of the Engineers Club, every voice carries its full force. Every confrontation lands. Every choice matters.
Don Giovanni Portraits stands on its own as a gripping evening of music and character. It also opens the door to Opera Baltimore’s fully staged production of Don Giovanni at Stephens Hall Theatre on October 9 and 11.
Start close to the voices. Then see the full reckoning unfold.