Mozart and da Ponte had been so successful with their previous operas Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni – both bitter comedies about adult men womanizing female persons – that they were ready for a piece about love relationships as the main subject. In order to do that, they chose the world of the immature teenagers to make their point that any love relationship should be based upon mutual respect and affection and that both sexes should fight for their bond every day of their lives. Written in 1790, in a world dominated by men, this subject was unheard of. It was way ahead of its time, certainly given the fact that Don Alfonso, the creator of all events in this bittersweet comedy, explicitly defends the women who must have exactly the same rights as men. I would even call Così fan tutte the first feminist opera in the history of this art form. The story is much closer to us all than the year 1790 might suggest, so we decided that we would set it in the beginning of the twentieth century (1925), the time of Louise Brooks (film) and The Great Gatsby (novel and film). Mozart’s music is most certainly of all times, since it still gives us goose bumps today, more than two hundred years after its first performance. We may even consider this master piece almost contemporary!

NANDO SCHELLEN, NAU Opera Director