On the 4th, 6th, 8th and 10th of March 2019, Teatru Manoel staged a brand new production of Mozart’s opera Così fan tutte. With this production, the theatre concludes the brilliant opera trilogy of Le Nozze Di Figaro (produced in 2017) and Don Giovanni (produced in 2018) resulting from the collaboration between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. The first of them, Le Nozze di Figaro was premiered in Vienna on 1 May 1786, while Don Giovanni’s was premiered in Prague on 29 October 1787. Così fan tutte was to follow with a premiere in Vienna on 26 January 1790.
Così fan tutte tells the tale of two officers, who disguise themselves and attempt to seduce each other’s fiancées to find out whether both of them would remain faithful. The opera was initially well received, but subsequently rarely performed due to the changing sensibilities, leading to it being perceived as being too risqué and immoral.
Only in the mid 20th century, did it regain its rightful place in standard operatic repertoire. The opera features a stellar cast of top local and foreign opera singers including: Christian Bowers as Guglielmo, Pauls Putnins as Don Alfonso, Claire Debono as Despina, Jazmin Black Grollemund as Fiordiligi, Helen Sherman as Dorabella and Nico Darmanin as Ferrando. The production is accompanied by The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and is directed by the renowned Philip Walsh.
Così Fan Tutte at the Manoel Theatre was a daring and exciting production with Jack Furness as Director and Designer, who cleverly captured all the elements of this popular opera.
The production was supported by Bank of Valletta.