With an all-Canadian cast, Opéra de Montréal’s Don Giovanni opened Saturday night to an enthusiastic crowd at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier. Full disclosure: I don’t really like Don Giovanni. Don’t get me wrong, I love Mozart generally, and his operas in particular. But Don Giovanni’s antics always leave a sour taste in my mouth – and that’s a difficult thing to get past. That said, we do not experience works as scores and libretti, but as performances. This is especially true for opera. Each staging of an opera has a life of its own, an inner cohesiveness that can challenge hermeneutic…

Why do women respond to rascals, seducers, and merely self-assured men? Don Giovanni cannot match the sexual prodigality of Gene Simmons of hard rock band KISS. The Don’s conquests in the salons, kitchens, and petticoats of 18th century Europe comprise a mere 640 women and girls in Italy, 231 in Germany, 100 in France, 91 in Turkey, and 1,003 in Spain. Gene Simmons’s worldwide conquests exceed either 4,600 or 4,800 eager groupies, depending on whether you ask him or his wife. Rake. Libertine. Trickster. Don Giovanni embodies the notorious womanizer, seducer, and serial rapist at concert pitch. His quicksilver sociopathy…