Così Fan Tutte / Norwegian Opera

A celebration of the enormous and uncontrollable emotions of late adolescence, the minefield of love in an age of social media and trash entertainment.

We follow two young men, Ferrando and Guglielmo, who sign up to be contestants on the cynical reality TV show, “Don Alfonso’s School for Lovers”. The aim of the show is to test the fidelity of the young men’s girlfriends, Dorabella and Fiordiligi, by having the young men disguise themselves as strangers and try to tempt the unsuspecting women into being unfaithful. The boys are sure that their girlfriends would never cheat on them, Don Alfonso is sure that they will, and the young women have no idea that they are being manipulated and exploited of the sake of great TV ratings… What could possibly go wrong?

This production brings Mozart’s characters into the digital age. We live in a time where social media, dating apps, and reality TV add new layers of complexity to love and relationships. What if Fiordiligi and Dorabella had only ever met Ferrando and Guglielmo online? What will happen when they experience meeting young men ‘in real life’ – without filters, without distance?

This is a Cosi that grapples with the huge complexities of relationships in a time when we pick partners with the swipe of a screen, where in the name of ease, entertainment and extraordinary ego, we completely miss the real connections that make life worth living.

Working with the brilliant singers of WOYS (The Wilhelmsen Opera Studio for Young Singers) at Norwegian Opera and Ballet, this was a chance to do the opera as it should be done...

Director - Joseph W. Alford
Musical Director - Gunvald Ottesen
Design - Rikke Juellund
Lighting - Paul Vidar Sævarang
Singers
Johannes Nikolai Aas - Don Alfonso
Sandra Bendrik - Fiordiligi
Markus Bjørlykke - Ferrando
Rory Green - Guglielmo
Laura Mayer - Dorabella
Sofia Nesje Enger - Despina
Assistant Director - Eli Stålhand