Review: Cosi fan tutte at Leeds Grand Theatre on Wednesday, February 3, 2016

COSI fan tutte which loosely translates as "they're (women) all like that", hasn't always been held in the highest esteem. Audiences at early performances were unimpressed by the satirical take on male and female relationships. The cynical view that given the opportunity, all women will be unfaithful to their partners, was widely seen as misogynistic.

Beyond controversy however is the sheer beauty and sublime intimacy of Mozart's music. Act ll opens with a breathtaking sequence of arias and ensembles in which voices, brass and woodwind are sumptuously interwoven. The chattering maid Despina sings the delightful aria Una Donna a quindici anni. Guglelmo and Ferrando serenade the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella with the enchanting duet and chorus Secondate aurette amiche. The sequence culminates in Fiordiligi's great rondo Per Pieta, ben mio, perdona (Ah, my love, forgive my madness). Mozart is said to have written Fiordiligi's arias with devilish leaps between lower and upper registers so that the original Prima Donna, whom he personally could not stand, would have to continually bob her head up and down like a chicken!

Needless to say that there were no bobbing chickens in Opera North's performance of Tim Albery's lively production first seen here a decade ago. Irish soprano Maire Flavin sang the role of Fiordiligi with consummate vocal poise and tonal richness. Clearly, Flavin is destined for a major international career. Australian soprano Helen Sherman's Dorabella is equally ravishing as Dorabella, and Ellie Laugharne brightly shines in various comic guises as the perky maid Despina. William Dazeley is an ultra-smooth Don Alfonso whose cynical wager with his two young soldier friends Ferrando and Guglielmo turns their respective love lives upside down. Tenor Nicholas Watts and baritone Gavan Ring interpret these roles with great sensitivity; their Act ll Duet was exquisitely blended.

Jac Van Steen's eloquent conducting melds the vocal and orchestral strands into an enriching whole. The Orchestra of Opera North respond with Mozart playing of intelligence and refinement. I have already alluded to Mozart's achingly beautiful writing for the woodwind and brass. Details were pointed and shaped by these musicians with such loving care.

Set designer Tobias Hoheisel's ingenious Camera Obscura box in which the entire action is set continues to add an extra thought provoking dimension to the evening.

Opera North's enthralling and enjoyable production of Cosi fan tutte can be seen at Leeds Grand on February 10,13,18 and 26.

by Geoffrey Mogridge