_{Canadian Opera Company}<em> Così fan tutte</em>“Canadian Opera Company goes from strength to strength”

After a successful fall season opener of La traviata, the Canadian Opera Company goes from strength to strength with the revival of an old favourite, Mozart’s Così fan tutte, in a production that premiered in 2014 and was last revived in 2019.

Premiered in 1790, Così fan tutte, together with The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni, are three operas Mozart created in collaboration with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, which are considered three of Mozart’s greatest works.  A check of the opera statistics from 1996 to present shows that Così is ranked 12th in popularity based on the number of performances in opera houses worldwide. It’s also Mozart’s fourth most frequently performed among his total of 22 operas, after The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni.

Curiously, Così is considered a “problematic” work in our time due to its subject matter. The title is loosely translated as “Women Are Like That,” referring to the central idea that women are by nature inconstant and can be easily tempted to be unfaithful in love matters. Holding such a premise in the 21st century is rightfully considered misogynistic. Much has been written, argued and debated about this issue. There has even been the suggestion that Così should no longer be staged for that reason. Rather than delving into yet another discussion of Così gender politics, it is important to remember the work was composed 236 years ago, when the world was a very different place. Certain societal values taken for granted in Mozart’s time are no longer acceptable today. Despite the problematic story, Così fan tutte remains a hugely popular opera, for the simple reason of its glorious music.

The director of this Così is Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan, who has garnered critical accolades in his productions of Salome, Jenufa, Bluebeard’s Castle and Die Walküre for the COC. His vision for Così is to situate the story in a private school, and a grand one at that, with huge collections of scientific specimens displayed and periodic projections of Monarch butterflies and such. It’s like taking the opera’s subtitle, “La scuola degli amanti” (The School for Lovers), literally. If anything, it makes for a very pretty and colourful stage.

Don Alfonso (Daniel Okulitch), in this production, is the schoolmaster. He goads Ferrando (Laurence Kilsby) and Guglielmo (Joel Allison) to test the faithfulness of their girlfriends, Fiordiligi (Lauren Fagan) and Dorabella (Martina Myskohlid). The action is full of physical comedy, with characters falling or getting thrown onto the stage floor. Given it’s a young and physically nimble cast, they did it all with aplomb.

Così is an opera with a small cast of six, but with two acts each lasting 90 minutes, the amount of singing for each character is substantial, and the singers are fully up to the task. It was good to have Lauren Fagan back after her Nozze Contessa and Tatyana (Eugene Onegin) a few seasons back. She sang a wonderful “Come scoglio,” complete with high C, and a touching “Per pieta, ben mio, perdona” with lovely high piano and mezza voce. Making her COC debut as Dorabella is Canadian mezzo Martina Myskohlid. A graduate of University of Toronto, Myskohlid has spent the last few years developing her career in Europe. Her lyric mezzo sounded lovely in “Smanie implacabili.”

Also debuting in this run is British tenor Laurence Kilsby as Ferrando, his bright, beautiful lyric tenor sounding marvelous in “Un aura amorosa.” Guglielmo is Canadian Joel Allison, a former member of the COC Ensemble who has spent the last few years at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. It was good to have him back. His beautiful bass-baritone has grown to an imposing size, with charismatic stage persona to match. Returning to the COC after La Reine-garçon in 2025 is Daniel Okulitch, who is a vocally and dramatically commanding Don Alfonso.

But to my eyes and ears, it was veteran Canadian soprano Tracy Dahl who made the most remarkable star turn as Despina, a role she took on in the premiere of the production in 2014 and in the 2019 revival. Now at 64, an age when most singers likely would have called it a day, Dahl shows that she still has the voice to do Despina justice, and the energy and enthusiasm to act up a storm and generate laughter, a must for this role. To that I say, “Brava!”

Johannes Debus led the COC Orchestra in an idiomatic performance, brisk but not hurried, energetic but not crude reading of sumptuous score. The marvelous COC Chorus, underused in this opera, finally got its moment to shine at the very end, and they did a great job to bring the long, three-hour opera to a close.

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