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Act I of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 1787 Don Giovanni (the opera is sung in Italian; in Spanish the character is known as “Don Juan”), LA Opera’s radiant season opener, is a sublime experience that made me feel glad to be alive, with some of the very best music ever composed for opera. Set in mid-17th century Seville, the story is about the legendary seducer, Don Giovanni (lustily played by tall, well-proportioned North Carolina baritone Lucas Meachem), who cuts a sensual swath across Europe.

Indeed, the number of Don Giovanni’s sexual “conquests” surpasses 1,800, which his much put-upon servant Leporello (the scene-stealing California bass-baritone Craig Colclough) lists in the funny “Catalogue Song,” wherein he sings the names of the countless women his “master” has bedded to the deserted Donna Elvira (New York mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard), after she has confronted her onetime lover. The lovers’ many names are cleverly projected on English scenic designer Es Devlin’s moving set.

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