{"id":58549,"date":"2019-02-06T13:41:21","date_gmt":"2019-02-06T18:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=58549"},"modified":"2019-02-06T13:41:21","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T18:41:21","slug":"scrutiny-excellent-ensemble-singing-and-colourful-production-make-coc-cosi-fan-shine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2019\/02\/06\/scrutiny-excellent-ensemble-singing-and-colourful-production-make-coc-cosi-fan-shine\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Excellent Ensemble Singing And Colourful Production Make COC Cosi fan tutte Shine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
COC’s Cosi fan tutte revival works wonders, but is essentially unchanged, save for a different conductor and a new cast. (Photo: Michael Cooper)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kirsten MacKinnon (Fiordiligi); Emily D\u2019Angelo (Dorabella); Ben Bliss (Ferrando); Johannes Kammler (Guglielmo); Tracy Dahl (Despina); Russell Braun (Don Alfonso). COC Orchestra and Chorus, Bernard Labadie, conductor. Four Seasons Centre, Feb. 5, 2019. Details, here.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The second production of the Canadian Opera Company Winter Season, a revival of Mozart\u2019s Cosi fan tutte<\/em>, opened last evening at the Four Seasons Centre. This Atom Egoyan production premiered in 2014.\u00a0 There might have been minor tweaking, but to my eyes the current revival is essentially unchanged, albeit with a different conductor and a largely new cast, the Despina of Canadian soprano Tracy Dahl the only holdover.<\/p>\n

Even for the diehard Mozart junkie, Cosi<\/em> is a bit of a marathon, especially when all the cuts are opened as in this production. For example, Ferrando\u2019s \u201cTradito, schernito,\u201d almost always cut, is restored here. With an early curtain, two acts nearly 90 minutes each plus an intermission, the show ended at ten minutes to eleven, thanks to Maestro Bernard Labadie\u2019s crisp tempi. You can say the audience got their money\u2019s worth!<\/p>\n

A bit of background for the uninitiated \u2014 among Mozart\u2019s twenty-two operas, the three \u201cDa Ponte Operas\u201d \u2014\u00a0Cosi fan tutte<\/em>, Don Giovanni<\/em> and Le nozze di Figaro<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 together with Die Zauberfl<\/em>\u00f6te<\/em>, are the most frequently performed.\u00a0 All four make the top 20 worldwide in terms of performance numbers the past three seasons based on available statistics. \u00a0It\u2019s not hard to see why; these operas represent the composer at his most musically and dramatically inspired.<\/p>\n

\"Tracy
Tracy Dahl as Despina and Russell Braun as Don Alfonso and in the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s production of Cos\u00ec fan tutte, 2019. (Photo: Michael Cooper)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That said, Cosi fan tutte<\/em> is seriously problematic for 21st-century audiences. The title can be loosely translated as \u201cWomen Are Like That,\u201d underscoring a rather patriarchal and misogynistic worldview, as is typical of the works from that period in European history. The story centers on a wager between the cynical Don Alfonso and two young men, Ferrando and Guglielmo, in love with their sweethearts, Fiordiligi and Dorabella. Alfonso challenges the guys to test the fidelity of their girlfriends.<\/p>\n

They pretend they\u2019re going off to war, only to come back in disguise as \u201cAlbanians\u201d and proceeding to seduce each other\u2019s girlfriends. Lovely, you say?\u00a0 Maybe in 1790 when it premiered, but not in #MeToo 2019. Given that we live in an era of gender equality and female agency, the thinly veiled male dominance and manipulation in Cosi<\/em> isn\u2019t so amusing these days. Many directors have introduced twists and turns in the staging, to make it more acceptable and believable to contemporary audiences, with varying degrees of success.<\/p>\n

Canadian director Atom Egoyan sets it in a \u201cscience lab\u201d in a private school complete with uniforms not unlike the von Trapps in The Sound of Music<\/em>. Alfonso is the teacher, and the lovers are the subjects in a science experiment on the \u201cnature of love\u201d and \u201caffairs of the heart.\u201d The students walk around with clipboards, observing the goings-on, all visually framed by Frida Kahlo\u2019s Two Fridas<\/em> painting, modified with two bleeding hearts and a hemostat. And there are more butterflies than you\u2019ll find in a nature conservatory. I find it more whimsical and colourful than logical, but that\u2019s par for the course.<\/p>\n

\"(l-r)
(l-r) Kirsten MacKinnon as Fiordiligi and Emily D\u2019Angelo as Dorabella in the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s production of Cos\u00ec fan tutte, 2019. (Photo: Michael Cooper)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As is typical of unit set design, it\u2019s often awkward to stage diverse scenes in the same setting, in this case a classroom. The two women are sleeping on throw pillows on the floor, getting drunk with six bottles of booze\u2026at school. Really?\u00a0 A certain suspension of disbelief is in order! Never mind the improbable storyline with a worldview two and a half centuries old, but as Anna Russell used to say \u2013 \u201cyou can do anything in opera as long as you sing<\/em> it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, reams have been written in popular media and in musicological circles about the gender politics of Cosi. <\/em>At the end of the day, it helps to keep in mind that the Mozart opera is first and foremost a period piece and a farce, set in an era governed by different social and cultural norms. \u00a0As such, it doesn\u2019t work too well to put the piece under the cultural microscope. The fact that it\u2019s ranked 16th in popularity worldwide the last three seasons is not because of the quality of its story, but because of the sublime music.<\/p>\n

And the music last evening was indeed sublime. \u00a0Kudos to a brilliant cast, led by the two pairs of lovers. Soprano Kirsten MacKinnon and mezzo Emily D\u2019Angelo are the Fiordiligi and Dorabella of one\u2019s dreams. How often do you find two singers who look like twins and sing like angels? This piece really needs young singers like the four we have here, with youthful energies aplenty. The sophomoric shenanigans they\u2019re asked to do don\u2019t seem forced with these young artists.\u00a0 Soprano MacKinnon, now an Oper Frankfurt \u201cfest artist,\u201d sang both \u201cCome scoglio\u201d and \u201cPer pieta\u201d with silvery tone. \u00a0Mezzo D\u2019Angelo, who has been winning prizes right and left, was a fabulous Dorabella.<\/p>\n

\"Russell
Russell Braun as Don Alfonso in the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s production of Cos\u00ec fan tutte, 2019. (Photo: Michael Cooper)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The men are equally fine. \u00a0I first heard tenor Ben Bliss (Ferrando) sing in Doctor Atomic<\/em> and Capriccio<\/em> in Santa Fe, and it\u2019s great that he is making his Canadian debut here. His \u201cUna aura amorosa\u201d among the best I\u2019ve heard. Another significant voice was that of German Johannes Kammler, making his Canadian debut. I remember how impressed I was last summer when he sang in a Munich Arabella<\/em>. His Guglielmo was engaging, sung with fresh, gorgeous tone. \u00a0The two pairs of lovers have good chemistry and they looked like they were enjoying themselves on stage.<\/p>\n

Kudos to soprano Tracy Dahl (Despina) and baritone Russell Braun (Don Alfonso), both distinguished Canadian opera veterans, for bringing their consummate vocalism and acting chops to enliven the show. Dahl was screamingly funny in the Dr. Mesmer scene and the Notary scene. Braun\u2019s warm baritone remains fresh and vital. He shows he can be every bit as good a character singer as a romantic lead. These two veterans still got it in spades after 30+ years careers.<\/p>\n

Quebec conductor-Mozart specialist Bernard Labadie returns to the COC, conducting with style and elegance. The chorus, not heavily taxed in this show, was its usual enjoyable self.<\/p>\n

All in all, a fun show that\u2019s a perfect antidote to the Polar Vortex-infested winter.<\/p>\n

Seven performances to Feb. 23 at the Four Seasons Centre. See here<\/a><\/span> for show times and tickets details.<\/span><\/p>\n

LUDWIG VAN TORONTO<\/i>
\n<\/b><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and reviews? Follow us on\u00a0<\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/u><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/u><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0for all the latest.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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