Waltteri Torikka & Tapani Plathan in Don Giovanni at Castle Olavinlinna

Tapani Plathan and Waltteri Torikka

Barihunks Waltteri Torikka and Tapani Plathan will sing Don Giovanni and Leporello in Mozart's masterpiece at the Savonlinna Opera Festival on July 9, 20 and 25. The opera will be performed in the Castle Olavinlinna, a 15th-century three-tower castle located in Savonlinna, Finland. The Savonlinna Opera Festival has been held annually at the castle each summer since 1912. They'll be alternating their roles with Kartal Karagedik and Arttu Kataja, who perform on July 18 and 22.

Regular readers will recall that Waltteri Torikka won the Finnish MTV competition Tähdet, Tähdet (Stars, Stars), which is similar to America's X-Factor or American Idol. He performed a variety of different musical genres, including Ricky Martin's Livin' La Vida Loca, Whitesnake's Still of Night, a country version of "Ring of Fire," the punk rock song "Hei hei mitä kuuluu," a Finnish tango, and even an Ozzy Osbourne-esque version of Scarpia from Tosca!

Waltteri Torikka sings "Deh, vieni alla finestra":

Finnish bass-barihunk Tapani Plathan is currently an ensemble member at Saarländisches Staatstheater Saarbrücken in Germany. He has performed Leporello in Don Giovanni, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte and Sparafucile in Rigoletto with the company. Plathan began his classical studies with oboe and piano but switched to voice at age 23, when he was admitted to Sibelius Academy. He made his debut at the Finnish National Opera in August 2012 as Strojnik in Janacek's Makropulos Affair and later also performed  Dulcamara in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore and Masetto in Don Giovanni.

Tickets and additional cast information for Don Giovanni is available online.