Dates and Times:
Friday, October 22, 2004 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 24, 2004 at 2 p.m.

Single Ticket Prices:
$10, 15, 20, 30, 35 (discounts available for seniors, youth, and groups)

Season Ticket Packages:
This concert is part of the CU Opera season ticket package.

Location:
Macky Auditorium

Running Time:
Three hours

Event Overview:
Can you really trust your true love? Mozart’s comedy of disguised identity explores this question while weaving in some of the composer’s best operatic works. Two young bachelors enter into a wager testing their fiancées’ fidelity only to entangle themselves in the situation unexpectedly. Sung in Italian with surtitles.

Synopsis:
Act I
Don Alfonso, a cynical old philosopher, declares to his young friends Ferrando and Guglielmo that no woman can be trusted, including their respective fiancées, the sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi. Enraged at this slur, they accept his offer to wager 100 sovereigns that he can prove his point in twenty-four hours if they will agree to follow his instructions unquestioningly. Don Alfonso then announces to the two sisters that their sweethearts have been ordered off to war. There is a touching scene of farewell and the two officers ostensibly sail off, to the cheers of the villagers. Despina, maid to the sisters, finds them prostrated by their loss and decries their lamentations, saying that one man is pretty much like another. To further his scheme Don Alfonso enlists Despina’s aid and introduces to her two young and wealthy “Albanians” who are enamored of her mistresses. She does not recognize Ferrando and Guglielmo in their disguise and supports their suit. Fiordiligi and Dorabella are outraged at this intrusion upon their sorrow and angrily order the two foreigners to leave. When the young men pretend to take poison in their despair, the sisters relent somewhat. Despina appears in the disguise of a doctor and revives the “Albanians” by means of a huge magnet. They renew their ardent attack on the young ladies’ affections but are again repulsed.

Act II
After Despina derides their constancy, the sisters, especially Dorabella, weaken and decide a flirtation will do no harm. Dorabella, chooses Guglielmo and Fiordiligi chooses Ferrando. As the couples stroll in the garden, Guglielmo wins Dorabella’s love and gives her a golden locket in return for a picture of Ferrando. Fiordiligi, however, refuses to yield to Ferrando and decides to disguise herself as a man and join her bethroed on the front. But when Ferrando threatens to slay himself, she too gives in. Both Guglielmo and Ferrando are now utterly cast down by the clear evidence of their sweethearts’ fickleness; but the triumphant Don Alfonso promises them that he will fix everything. He arranges a ceremony in which Ferrando is to marry Fiordiligi and her sister Guglielmo. In the midst of the ceremony, which is conducted by Despina disguised as a notary, the military music to which the two officers marched off to war is heard again and it is announced they have returned. In the confusion, Ferrando and Guglielmo leave the stage and come back without their disguises, explaining that they received royal permission to return to the arms of their loved ones. The officers pretend to fly into a rage when they find the marriage contract, the sisters blame Don Alfonso and Despina for leading them astray, their lovers reveal that they were the “Albanians,” Guglielmo returns Ferrando’s picture to Dorabella and gets his locket back, the sisters are properly chastened, and all ends happily.

Cast:
Ferrando - Kerem Kurk
Guglielmo - Sang Jun Yoon/Eric Angerhofer
Don Alfonso - Ashraf Sewailam
Fiordiligi - Gina Harvey
Dorabella - Rena Pyland
Despina - Sara Gartland/Bonnie Draina

Directors:
Music Director - Nicholas Carthy
Stage Director - William Gustafson
Set and Lighting Designer - Peter Dean Beck
Costumer - Tom Robbins
Technical Director - Ron Mueller

Audio:
Listen to or purchase music from Così fan tutte at Barnes&Noble.com. A portion of your purchase will be donated to CU Concerts.
Mozart: Così fan tutte