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Mozart, Così Fan Tutte: Soloists, orchestra, and chorus of Granite State Opera, Philip Lauriat (Music Director), Portsmouth, New Hampshire 9.5.2008 (LS)

Music Director-Philip Lauriat
Stage Director-John Bowen
Production Manager-Taylor Rodgers
Production Stage Manager-Jennifer Moody
Assistant Stage Manager-Marlena Hipke
Lighting Designer-Quentin Stockwell
Wigmaster/Makeup-Molly Weinrab

Propmaster-Nathan Keyes
Chorus Master and Rehearsal Pianist-Michelle Alexander

Rehearsal Pianists-Anna Maria Dwyer, Miles Goldberg

Costumes-Patricia Hibbert
Wardrobe Assistant-Helen Aure
Supertitles -Raymond Street Translation

Projectionist-David D'Agostino

Set Design-Arthur Ridley for Univ. of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance

Cast:

Ferrando-Jason Karn
Guglielmo-Ross Benoliel
Don Alfonso-Phil Lima
Fiordiligi-Theresa Cincione
Dorabella-Meredith Ziegler

Despina-Heather Parker
Chaperone (Non singing)-Nina Eppes

Così Fan Tutte (or The School for Lovers) is perhaps Mozart's most controversial opera. Lorenzo da Ponte's libretto is all about fiancée swapping.  The libertinism of the text shocked viewers of the 19th and even the early 20th century.  The well known opera historian Alfred Loewenberg once stated: "No other opera, perhaps, has been subjected to so many different versions and attempts to  'improve' the libretto".  Indeed, it wasn't performed in the United States until 1922.

Granite State Opera's delightful performance featured traditional and not so traditional  features. The curtain rose immediately and while the overture played, the audience could see  the two soon to be wedded couples (Ferrando and Dorabella, Guglielmo and Fiordiligi) enjoying a meal at the home of Don Alfonso.  The setting is 1817 rather than 1790.  Philip Lauriat explained: "We've chosen  to set this production in 1817…(because) with PBS, etc, people know more about the stories of Jane Austin than about Les Liaisons  Dangereuses. That's important, because this opera is all about the relationships between men and women at that constrained time, and the formality in those relationships that is no longer part of our social vernacular."

When the ladies retire, Don Alfonso challenges Ferrando and Guglielmo to a wager.  He says that the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella will prove to be unfaithful. The two men are shocked but agree -certain that they will win the bet. Don Alfonso tells Fiordiligi and Dorabella that their fiancées have been called to battle.  After they depart, the action begins. Despina, the sister's maid,  advises the sisters to enjoy themselves while their lovers are far away.  Don Alfonso promises Despina a reward if she'll help him win. The lovers, disguised as rich Albanians, suddenly appear and begin wooing each other's fiancée.  Their first advances are repelled.  The Albanians in their misery take "poison" and Despina pretending to be a doctor  cures them with a huge magnet.  They seek sympathy with  kisses, but once again are rebuffed.  The first act ends with the lovers certain they will win Don Alfonso's money.

Act II finds Despina again counseling Dorabella and Fiordiligi that "any girl of fifteen years" should enjoy flirtations. The women choose between the Albanians and the couples switch affections.  Dorabella is the first to succumb  and accepts a heart locket from Guglielmo , but Fiordiligi continues to reject Ferrando. Ferrando tells Guglielmo that Fiordiligi is faithful, but Guglielmo shows Ferrando the locket-- evidence that Dorabella  has abandoned her distant soldier.  Ferrando is enraged  and Guglielmo bemoans the ingratitude of women. Fiordiligi threatens to disguise herself as a soldier and follow Guglielmo to the battlefield. but finally gives in and accepts Ferrando's advances.

Despina congratulates the women and Don Alfonso counsels immediate marriage saying Così fan tutte  - "all women are like that".  Despina disguises herself again as a notary and the ceremony is completed just as the "soldiers" return from the battlefield.  Chaos reigns and ultimately the plot is revealed.  Don Alfonso admits the deception but urges forgiveness. In most productions, the original lovers indeed forgive each other and the opera ends happily.  But, not in Portsmouth.  Lauriat and Bowen preferred an ambiguous ending. Indeed it is not clear whether there will be one, two, or no marriages - and if there are, who will marry whom. 

Così requires six excellent singers and for them most part the Granite State Opera cast was up to the challenge. Theresa Cincione played the demanding role of Fiordiligi.  Her Act I aria Come scoglio (like a rock) is a show stopper in the same category as The Magic Flute's Queen of the Night aria Der Hölle Rache.  I was a bit surprised to find that John Bowen had Dorabella flirting with Guglielmo on one side of the stage while Fiordiligi tackled Come scoglio.  He told me afterwards that he considered Fiordiligi's "rock" aria to be more comic than serious  and therefore used the flirtation scene as a deliberate contrast.  In Act II however, he gave Cincione  solo stage to sing the beautiful  Per pietà as she begged forgiveness from her distant lover.  Cincione's singing was very good and as such garnered heavy applause. She is a favorite at Granite State Opera having sung title roles in Madama Butterfly, the Marriage of Figaro, and The Magic Flute.  She debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1992 with performances in Idomeneo, Aida, Parsifal, Elektra, and The Ghosts of Versailles.  She told me that one of her recent favorite roles was Eva in the Metropolitan Opera's 2003 production of Die Meistersinger.

The tall thin mezzo soprano Meredith Ziegler displayed a very beautiful voice and acted the role of the  flighty Dorabella with gusto.  She was very effective in her duets with Cincione.  Ms. Ziegler's career has just begun.  She took second place in the Connecticut Opera Guild's Scholarship Competition (2006), second place in the 2007 Amici Vocal Competition, and was a Regional Finalist in the 2007 New England Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.  Her appearances have included Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Meg Page in Falstaff, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, and the mezzo soloist in Mozart's Requiem.  Hopefully we will hear her name more often in the years to come.

Heather Parker came close to stealing the show with her fine voice and excellent acting as the wily Despina.  She too, is well known in New Hampshire having performed with Granite State Opera as Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and as Despina and Susanna for Opera North.  Her credits also include Antonia in Seattle Opera's production of Tales of Hoffman, Musetta in La Bohème, and Micaela in Carmen. She is scheduled to sing Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Seattle Opera.

Jason Karn as Ferrando made his New York debut in 2007 at Dicapo Opera as Romeo in Romeo et Juliette and received a quite favorable review from the New York Sun Times.  He is also one of the up and coming young artists having begun his performing career at the 2004 Chautauqua Opera Festival.  His roles during the past four years have included Tamino in The Magic Flute, Spoletta in Tosca, Fenton in Falstaff, Alfredo in La Traviata, and Nemorino in L'Elisir D'Amore.  Karn sang and acted well, but was upstaged  in my opinion by Ross Benoleil's Guglielmo.

In its most recent efforts Granite State Opera has been quite successful finding exciting baritones.  In last year's Lucia Di Lammermoor it was Jimi James as Enrico.  Ross Benoleil brought a superb voice and fine acting to Così, although I must admit that some of the gestures he used to put the make on Dorabella seemed more associated with the 21st century  than the 19th. He was an international finalist in Placido Domingo's 2006 Operalia Competition, a finalist in the New England Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and the 2008 prize winner in the Liederkranz Foundation Vocal Competition.  His roles have included Figaro in the Barber of Seville, Valentin in Faust, and the premiere of the role of Reverend John Wilson in Margaret Garwood's The Scarlet Letter.

Rounding out the male cast was the large imposing Philip Lima as Don Alfonso.  His bass voice was beautiful, but I thought pitched a bit too high and light for the sinister Don Alfonso.  Perhaps this reflected his marching orders by the musical director.  His recent credits have included Alfio and Tonio in Granite State Opera's productions of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci,  Trinity Moses in Opera Boston's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Johann Mattes in Die Burgschaft, Cadmus in  Semele, John Proctor in The Crucible,  and Alidoro in La Cenerentola.  Thus, the breadth of his repertoire is astonishing  ranging from Handel, Rossini, Mozart, and Haydn to Weill, Mahler, Ullmann, and Orff.

The production was light, bright, and airy, in contrast to others such as Opera Zurich's setting in a gloomy university with Don Alfonso as a scheming professor.  Transitions were made from outdoors to indoors effortlessly.  The costumes were also well done.

Così  is a long opera  replete with dialogue. As such it poses a major production problem, particularly in the second act.  If the acting is relatively static, the result can be tedium and boredom.  But if the pace is picked up and embellished with activity the opera can turn into a superficial comedy.  Although at times during the first act I thought that perhaps the action was a bit over the top, I felt that Lauriat and Bowen achieved the appropriate balance.

The chorus had a relatively minor role singing with competence the beautiful Bella vita militar. The orchestra performed admirably under Lauriat's direction with major kudos to the french horns and trumpets. Although perhaps not quite as exciting as last season's Lucia Di Lammermoor, Granite State's Così  still deserves high marks and I look forward to future productions.

Lew Schneider

Pictures © PernoldPhoto.com

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