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Così Fan Tutte
20 May, 2015 @ 8:00 pm - 30 May, 2015 @ 11:30 pm
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Così Fan Tutte is one of the most highly regarded operas of all time. Its musical score was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with text inspired by literary greats Bocaccio, Shakespeare and Cervantes. Despite cutbacks made by its sponsors at the Viennese court, the masterpiece was premièred in January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna.
Its central theme has stirred up distaste and controversy from the start; the title, which translates as “this is how they all are”, refers to women’s infidelity, a disparaging claim that all women are alike and unfaithful. This modern interpretation of the classic story of temptation and betrayal is set in a swanky hotel. Two couples are expecting a romantic weekend, but when the cynical landlord challenges their partners’ fidelity things start to go very wrong indeed. Social satire at its finest.
Performances: 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 May 2015.
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Review: Cosí Fan Tutti
On occasion, you’ll see an early opera crowd buzzing around the grand Liceu theatre in Barcelona’s late afternoon hours. I found myself lucky to be in that crowd this week, as I lined up to pick up tickets for the full dress rehearsal for Cosí Fan Tutti. I’m not a frequent opera-goer, having only been once before to see the rambunctious Die Fledermaus in Vienna. However after seeing Cosí Fan Tutti I’m definitely going to start looking up more operatic shows in Barcelona.
An amazing stage set and the paradoxically modern style of this Mozart favourite makes the story at once credible and easy to relate to. The overhead reader is in Catalan but there are small language panels in front of every seat, making it easy to follow the dialogue in English.
I keep forgetting that operas, historically speaking, intend to entertain and scandalise their highbrow audience with saucy humour and plot. Cosí Fan Tutti is transformed by modern adaptation into an opera almost like an episode of Fawlty Towers. The hotel owner Don Alfonso, a boozy throwback from the Italian 70s, opens the score by starting a row with his two young friends Guglielmo and Ferrando, who are guests at the hotel. He wages a bet about the fidelity of their fiancées, and narrates a plot unfolding in the playful tricking of the two women. The men pretend to “leave for war” and then make several attempts to woo their ladies, disguised as handsome foreigners. One of the best characters is the sassy maid Despina, who gets in on the bet and helps to convince the women that while the cats are away, the mice should play.
Apart from the theme, which is funny, surprising and involving, the opera voices will carry you away, with impressive duets and solos truly on par with their grand surroundings here in one of Barcelona’s classical buildings. This could definitely be described as an “adult opera”; so expect to be enthralled from start to finish!
Zara Patterson