Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Così fan tutte
Sep 23 – Oct 23
Price includes $10.00 fee
Overflowing with gorgeous melody and hilarious hijinks, Mozart’s satirical comedy of fickle young love is one of the composer’s most sublime creations. Phelim McDermott’s “colorful, 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.
Please note that video cameras will be in operation during the September 30 and October 3 performances, as part of The Met: Live in HD series of cinema transmissions.
Production a gift of William R. Miller, and John Sucich / Trust of Joseph Padula
Additional funding from The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Endowment Fund and the National Endowment for the Arts
Revival a gift of Anne and Christopher Flowers
Co-production of the Metropolitan Opera and English National Opera
In collaboration with Improbable
Sung In
Italian
Met Titles In
- English
- German
- Spanish
- Italian
Estimated Run Time
3 hrs 35 mins
House Opens
Act I
95 mins
Intermission
30 mins
Act II
90 mins
Opera Ends
Cast
Conductor
Nimrod David Pfeffer
Performing
All Dates
Fiordiligi
Federica Lombardi
Performing
All Dates
Dorabella
Samantha Hankey
Performing
All Dates
Despina
Ana María Martínez
Performing
All Dates
Ferrando
Duke Kim
Performing
All Dates
Guglielmo
Andrey Zhilikhovsky
Performing
All Dates
Don Alfonso
Gerald Finley
Performing
All Dates
World premiere: Vienna, Court Theater, 1790. The third and final collaboration between Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte is a fascinating paradox: a frothy comedy of manners with an intensely dark take on human nature; an old story (it has antecedents in Boccaccio, Shakespeare, and Cervantes, among others) with a startlingly modern tone; and a beautiful score depicting questionable behavior. Così fan tutte was only moderately successful at its premiere and remained just outside the standard repertoire for more than a century. Così still poses unique challenges, and correspondingly unique rewards, for the public today. Every possible impression of love—from the loftiest to the basest—is explored in this extraordinary opera.
Creators
The music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91) continues to enthrall audiences around the world. His achievements in opera, in terms of beauty, vocal challenge, and dramatic insight, remain unsurpassed. The extraordinary Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749–1838) led an adventurous life in Venice and Vienna. He supplied libretti for the prominent composers of his time, including Antonio Salieri, and collaborated with Mozart on his greatest operatic achievements, including Così fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Don Giovanni. Da Ponte migrated to America and eventually settled in New York, where he was granted the first Chair of Italian at Columbia College (now University).
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composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Production
Phelim McDermott
SET DESIGNER
Tom Pye
COSTUME DESIGNER
Laura Hopkins
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Paule Constable
C. Graham Berwind, III Chorus Director
Tilman Michael
Setting
The opera was originally set in Naples. With its natural beauty and abundant sunshine, the city became the equivalent of a tourist destination in the 18th century. It has been suggested that the preponderance of woodwinds in the score is meant to evoke the breezy atmosphere of the seashore. The Met’s current production updates the action to an amusement park inspired by Coney Island in the 1950s.
Videos
Music
The score of Così is elegant and refined on its surface and dramatically insightful on closer inspection. It is often possible in this opera to tell who is siding with whom, and to what degree, in the various ensembles, whereas the characters’ individual development is apparent in the diversity of their solos.
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