WOLGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Così fan tutte 

The Met: Live in HD season continues with Mozart’s satirical comedy of fickle young love. Phelim McDermott’s “colourful, inventive” (The New York Times) staging, inspired by Coney Island in the 1950s, sets the uproarious story at a boardwalk amusement park, where the two pairs of lovers at the heart of the tale find themselves on one emotional—and literal—thrill ride after another. Soprano Federica Lombardi and mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey sing Fiordiligi and Dorabella, opposite tenor Duke Kim and baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky as Ferrando and Guglielmo. Bass-baritone Gerald Finley reprises his portrayal of the cynical Don Alfonso, with soprano Ana María Martínez as the witty maid Despina.

Runtime: 237mins including 1 interval

Spurred on by a bet, two young men hatch a plan to test the fidelity of their girlfriends. What follows is a slippery game of seduction and power, the four lovers plunging into a dizzying world of shifting reality, where truth becomes increasingly unstable.

Così fan tutte has lost none of its sting since it first scandalised audiences in 1790. In her Main Stage debut, Netia Jones, Associate Director of The Royal Opera, reimagines Mozart’s comedy of manners through a sharp contemporary lens, where 18th-century romantic trickery meets deeply satirical high-tech deceit. Taking on the roles of the lovers is an exciting young cast led by Louise Alder, Simone McIntosh, Mingjie Lei and Huw Montague Rendall, with Gerald Finley as their manipulative game-master Don Alfonso and Emily Pogorelc as Despina. Thomas Hengelbrock conducts, bringing out the exquisite melodies that underpin the provocative, and resolutely modern, themes at the heart of the opera.