Così fan tutte

In Mozart’s third opera based on Da Ponte’s libretto which favours ensembles (from duet to sextet), Christophe Rousset conducts his Talens Lyrique orchestra and a vocal ensemble heard at the last edition of the Aix-en-Provence festival (2023) directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov.

Così fan tutte (1790) is the opera of disguise, of crossover, a theatre within the theatre where the four heroes are puppets in the hands of Don Alfonso and Despina. Who are the real couples? Those at the start (and at the end) or those that are brought together through a bet? In this game of fools, who are the cruelest? The men determined to cheat or the women that have a change of heart? Director Dmitri Tcherniakov takes on this double game and turns a friendly holiday  resort, where the action takes place, into a set behind closed-doors. Two middle-aged couples, married and used to routine, embark on an experiment to confront themselves.  What initially starts as a game then becomes more serious.