SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Of all Mozart operas–I might almost say, of all classical operas–Così fan tutte is perhaps the one least tied to a specific historical period. The droit du seigneur may or may not actually have existed in the 18th century, but it is an essential plot element in Le nozze di Figaro, and Don Giovanni makes no sense when transferred to a milieu stripped of interrelationships among nobility, gentry, and peasantry. The only notable contemporary element in Così is the recourse to Anton Mesmer’s magnetic techniques, and this is a purely circumstantial touch with no social significance.

It’s not surprising, then, that the two finest productions of Così I have seen have located it in a kind of historical no-man’s-land, decorated, as it happens, in styles inspired by two 20th-century artists. In Philadelphia back in 1988, Gray Veredon staged the opera wittily in a Lichtenstein-esque setting. And Pacific Opera Victoria’s superb new production is presented on a clever unit set designed by Elli Bunton with the deliberately disorienting art of M.C. Escher in mind, and in costumes by Mara Gottler based (my wife assures me) on the fashions of the 1950s but branching out to a more contemporary look.

Pretty well everything about François Racine’s staging works beautifully. It is inventive, but never over the top. No shenanigans disturb our enjoyment of the overture, which is played before a closed curtain. The odd angles of the set aptly reflect, as the director’s note in the program observes, “the emotional crisis of the characters.” The six principals all move and act with grace and conviction. The finale is convincingly handled: through most of the concluding ensemble, the two pairs of lovers are grouped in their original configuration–but just before the curtain falls, they exchange partners, showing us clearly how unstable the personal relations in this subversive story really are. Luc Prairie’s lighting ingeniously helps to articulate the progress of the plot. And nobody, for once, stands on a chair.

I did feel that perhaps Fiordiligi and Dorabella betrayed some susceptibility to the advances of their Albanian suitors a little too early in the proceedings, but on reflection I am inclined to think that this only went to confirm the suspicion that their resistance was more wishful thinking than true resolution. In that view, Fiordiligi’s great aria, “Come scoglio,” would be seen as, more than anything else, an attempt to convince herself of her devotion to Guglielmo.

The musical qualities of the production fully match its dramatic standard. Conductor Timothy Vernon paces the score to perfection. The Victoria Symphony plays with fine style and strong technique, and Robert Holliston’s chorus–located offstage, with its contribution amusingly represented on stage by a wind-up phonograph to underline the artificiality of Don Alfonso’s scheme–sings splendidly.

But Così depends no less crucially on the abilities of the solo singers, and here I can only declare my delight at the performances of a sextet of artists all Canadian, and all young or thereabouts. As Fiordiligi, Charlotte Corwin revealed that rarity, a real Mozart voice, cleanly focused and of a purity that recalled such memorable Mozarteans as Teresa Stich-Randall. The Dorabella was Lauren Segal, possessed of a rich and beautiful mezzo voice, and–no disadvantage–gorgeous to look at. (Given that Fiordiligi and Dorabella are sisters, it was a sensible touch to make them both red-heads.) Tenor Antonio Figueroa’s tone is admirably fluent, and he made an attractive and artistically resourceful Ferrando, though he needs to control an occasional tendency to sing a shade flat. Stephen Hegedus’s Guglielmo was vocally strong, and he made his dramatic points wittily yet without exaggeration. Michèle Bogdanowicz was an accomplished (and suitably hilarious) Despina, and Doug MacNaughton’s subtly insinuating Don Alfonso, coming after his loftily authoritative Major-Domo in last month’s Capriccio, impressively demonstrated this talented baritone’s histrionic range.

Altogether, then, this Così stands as another resounding success in a season of high artistic aim and commensurate reach.

Bernard Jacobson