The Washington National Opera took over the Nationals Park again Saturday evening as part of its season opening. This year, the company wooed hundreds of fans to the annual Opera in the Outfield event with Don Giovanni, Mozart’s famed opera about an arrogant rake whose sexual excesses are about to catch up to him.

Before the curtain of the second performance of Washington National Opera’s new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni on Monday night, conductor Plácido Domingo made an announcement. Happily, it was not to announce a cast change, but to draw the audience’s attention to the fact that it was the 220th anniversary of the opera’s first performance in Prague (October 29, 1787). This production is not likely to rank high on anyone’s list of noteworthy versions of…

There are ways to attend an opera in Washington at a ticket price that will not make you cry. The easiest way is to go to a performance from one of the smaller or collegiate companies, where the reasonable ticket price will translate into hearing lesser singers or a piano or small instrumental ensemble instead of a full orchestra. If you want the true experience of opera, however — that “exotic and irrational entertainment” described…

If you are wondering what mysterious something seems to be missing from your life this winter, it could be opera. While we wait for the Washington National Opera’s spring season to start in late March, there are a few operas on the schedule to tide us over, presented by visiting companies like the Kirov Opera and the smaller Washington companies like Opera Lafayette and Virginia Opera. Still, opera addicts will not be satisfied until WNO…

After several feverish weeks of wall-to-wall concerts, the approach of Thanksgiving puts the Classical Music Agenda into a temporary lull this week. Not to worry: we have some concerts for you even this week, and next week we will come back out swinging. LA MUTTER: >> We mentioned this on Thursday, but it really is the main event of the week. Anne-Sophie Mutter, one of the leading violinists on the world stage, will give a…

You’ve probably heard us going on about how Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born 250 years ago. Yesterday, to be exact. And where else would you have found us last night but listening to Mozart’s music? As we recommended in last week’s Classical Music Agenda, we spent the big night with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. This week, they are presenting a semi-staged performance of Mozart’s early opera, The Abduction from the Seraglio…

We have been plugging the excellent production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess all week, and it is worth your time and effort to see it, as we did this past Wednesday. However, all remaining performances have apparently been sold out. This means that your best and only remaining chance to experience this great American opera will be later today, when a live simulcast from the Kennedy Center Opera House will be shown on a huge…