Published21 Apr 2025
Baritone Sidney Outlaw steps into the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni
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MoreWhat do you do when it’s one week before opening night and you need to cast opera’s most charming, notorious villain? You call in an Outlaw.
Praised by The New York Times as a “terrific singer” with a “deep, rich timbre,” baritone Sidney Outlaw has joined the cast of Opera Philadelphia’s new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni for four performances, April 25-May 4 at the Academy of Music. Outlaw steps in for baritone Timothy Murray, who withdrew from the opera on Friday, April 18, due to illness.
Outlaw first performed the role of Don Giovanni just one year ago in a Boston Baroque production. His performance was lauded by The Boston Globe as “an extraordinary role debut.” He returned to the role in October with Greensboro Opera. Outlaw has been called an “opera powerhouse” who has delighted audiences in the U.S. and abroad with his “weighty and forthright” sound (San Francisco Chronicle) since 2010, when he exploded onto the international scene as the winner of the Grand Prize at the Concurso Internacional de Canto Montserrat Caballé.
Originally from Brevard, North Carolina, Outlaw is a graduate of the Merola Opera Program and the Gerdine Young Artist Program at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. He holds a Grammy nomination for the Naxos Records recording of Darius Milhaud’s 1922 opera trilogy, L’Orestie d’Eschyle, in which he sang the role of Apollo. Currently a member of the faculties at Manhattan School of Music and Brooklyn College, Outlaw has taught voice previously at Queens College and Ithaca College. He is currently working on his EDM in Music Education from Columbia Teachers’ College and is passionate about balancing his performing career with teaching and mentoring the next generation of classical musicians.
Sidney Outlaw’s appearance as Don Giovanni is underwritten by Mrs. Sheila Kessler.
Opera Philadelphia’s new production of Don Giovanni is led by American stage director Alison Moritz, who has quickly gained a reputation for her innovative interpretations of the classic repertoire and her equally incisive takes on contemporary music theater. Her work focuses on using music as a prism for human emotion – as such, her work has been praised for her “edgy, teeth-grinding style” by the New York Observer, and her recent projects have been lauded as “enchantingly cheeky” (Washington Post), “elegantly sexy,” and “raw, funny, surreal, and disarmingly human” (Opera News). The new production includes scenic designs by Jesse Wine and Cassandre Griffin, and costume design by Victoria Bek, all making their company debuts. Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris leads the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra, with Elizabeth Braden leading the Opera Philadelphia Chorus.
A recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Canadian soprano Olivia Smith makes her company debut as Donna Anna. Starring as Don Ottavio is South African tenor Khanyiso Gwenxane, who made a splash in his 2022 Opera Philadelphia debut in the title role of Rossini’s Otello, with the New York Times hailing his “bold and forthright” voice. Soprano Elizabeth Reiter, a Curtis Institute of Music alum who received international acclaim for her portrayal of Aphrodite in the 2011 American premiere of Henze’s Phaedra with Opera Philadelphia, returns as Donna Elvira. Bass-baritone Nicholas Newton makes his Opera Philadelphia debut in the role of Leporello, Don Giovanni’s servant and sidekick. Newton performed the same role in a summer 2024 production at the Santa Fe Opera, where he also appeared in the world premiere of The Righteous by Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith. American soprano Amanda Sheriff performs the role of Zerlina, with baritone Kevin Godínez, an Academy of Vocal Arts graduate seen in 2023 at Opera in the Park and Afternoons at AVA, as Masetto. American bass Raymond Aceto also makes his company debut as the Commendatore.
Don Giovanni
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte
New Production
April 25, 27, May 2, 4, 2025
Academy of Music
Performed in Italian with English Supertitles
Runtime is approximately 2 hours and 50 minutes including one 20-minute intermission
About Opera Philadelphia
Opera Philadelphia is known as “the very model of a modern opera company” (Washington Post). Committed to developing opera for the 21st century, the company is recognized as “a hotbed of operatic innovation” (New York Times). For more information, visit operaphila.org.