The Glasshouse

Così fan tutte, or, The School for Lovers, K. 588

 Così fan tutte has been called Mozart and da Ponte’s most personal opera. It’s also been described as Mozart’s most cynical work, lavishing glorious music on a heartlessly frivolous plot. Beethoven considered it “immoral”. And even Lorenzo da Ponte himself, in his spicy Memoirs, described it as “an opera that holds third place among the three sisters born of that most celebrated father of harmony”.

So which is it? And what was it – in the autumn of 1789, when Emperor Joseph II commissioned a new Italian opera from the team behind Le nozze di Figaro – that attracted these two artists to this particular story? Da Ponte had recently fallen in love with a star soprano, Adriana Ferrarese del Bene (known as La Ferrarese). Mozart, too, had an interest to declare. Earlier that summer, his wife Constanze’s innocent flirtations at the spa in Baden had stirred him to a rare fit of jealousy. “I am glad when you’re having fun, I really am”, he wrote to her. “I just wish you wouldn’t behave so badly, because people will talk”. It’s been suggested that Dorabella is directly modelled on Constanze Mozart.

Fiordiligi, meanwhile, was actually played by La Ferrarese; in fact the whole opera was tailored to quite specific singers and personalities. The first Don Alfonso was Francesco Bussani, a character-singer with a track record as a pompous old meddler. And although the evidence is sketchy, it’s possible that Louise Villeneuve, the first Dorabella, was La Ferrarese’s real-life sister. So when the curtain went up at the Burgtheater, Vienna on 26 January 1790, Viennese audiences saw a true ensemble comedy written by a pair of artists who understood both their subject, and their performers. No Mozart / da Ponte opera was more successful in Vienna.

Perhaps that’s why Così fan tutte touches us regardless, and why the most ravishing music in the entire opera – the trio Soave sia il vento – comes at precisely the point where the deception is being set in motion. Mozart engages our emotions most profoundly just as the comedy requires us to be most detached. All great comedy has a hint of cruelty, but in the end it’s hard not to conclude that Mozart (if not da Ponte) is on the side of the ladies. In truth, though, he’s on the side of humanity. This “School for Lovers” has a lesson for anyone fortunate enough to have a heart.

© Richard Bratby

Dinis Sousa is Music Director of the Royal Northern Sinfonia (RNS) and Founder and Artistic Directorof the award-winning Orquestra XXI. Winner of the 2023 Critics’ Circle Young Talent (Conductor)Award, he has led RNS programmes with Víkingur Ólafsson, Stephen Hough, Benjamin Grosvenor,Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Kristian Bezuidenhout, a Ravel anniversary celebration, Handel’s Messiah,and a special community performance of Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time.

In the 2025/26 season, Sousa led programmes with Paul Lewis, Imogen Cooper, Louise Alder and Maria Włoszczowska; Haydn’s Creation; a project juxtaposing Pierre Boulez and The Beatles; and a centenary celebration of György Kurtág.

As a guest conductor, recent and upcoming debuts include the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He has earned acclaim for performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and for a complete Beethoven cycle with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras.

His opera work includes Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande for Bergen Opera and Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia for Nevil Holt Opera. With Orquestra XXI, highlights include opening the Gulbenkian Foundation season and a celebrated tour of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.

Hailed by the New York Times for her ‘plush, full sound, yet also youthful brightness’, American mezzo-soprano Angela Brower is one of the most sought-after lyric mezzo-sopranos of her generation. A former member of the Bayerische Staatsoper ensemble, and alumna of their studio, she continues to bring her compelling artistry and musicianship to the world’s leading opera houses and concert venues.

Engagements this season include Sesto La clemenza di Tito at Edinburgh International Festival, Octavian Der Rosenkavalier at Opernhaus Zürich, Komponist Ariadne auf Naxos at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Adalgisa Norma at Staatsoper unter den Linden and Dorabella Così fan tutte at Wiener Staatsoper. Brower also performs Berlioz’s Cléopâtre and Mozart’s Requiem with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra.

Recent engagements include Sesto La clemenza di Tito and Nicklausse Les Contes d’Hoffman, both at the Staatsoper Hamburg, another double appearance at the Bayerische Staatsoper as Hänsel Hänsel und Gretel and as the Fox in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen and Nicklausse/The Muse Les Contes d’Hoffman and Dorabella Così fan tutte at Opéra national de Paris. She also sang Dorabella Così fan tutte at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with Mark Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre and made her Wigmore Hall debut together with pianist James Baillieu and a programme titled ‘A Little Night Music’.

Her discography includes the hugely acclaimed Deutsche Grammophon recordings of Mozart’s Così fan tutte and Le nozze di Figaro both conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Equally in demand for both operatic and concert repertoire – ranging from the Baroque to contemporary, American baritone Cody Quattlebaum will debut at Theatre Bonn in a world premier composed by Param Vir called Awakening. Quattlebaum will perform the role of Prince Gautam in this Vasily Barkhatov production. He will perform Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Riccardo Minasi at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia before making his house debut at La Fenice as Vulcano in Sciarrino’s Venere e Adone.

Last season saw Quattlebaum star in several exciting projects: a newly imagined trilogy of Carl Orff’s works entitled Trionfi conducted by Kent Nagano and staged at the Staatsoper Hamburg by acclaimed director Calixto Bieito; his highly anticipated debut at English National Opera as the Count in The Marriage of Figaro; Handel’s Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music at The Barbican and in Las Palmas; Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Riccardo Minasi; and Zebul Jephtha with Il pomo d’oro.

Other recent highlights include Don Giovanni in Simon Steen-Andersen’s new production and opera Don Giovanni’s Inferno for his company debut at the Royal Danish Theatre; Kurwenal Tristan und Isolde at the Opéra de Rouen; Venere Venere e Adone at Staatsoper Hamburg; Bhishma in the world premiere of Thierry Pécou’s Until The Lions and Ratefreund in the French premiere of Braunfels’ Die Vögel, both with Opéra National du Rhin; Il Conte in Le nozze di Figaro with The Handel and Haydn Society conducted by Raphaël Pichon; his debut at the Israeli Opera as Figaro Le nozze di Figaro and with San Francisco Opera as Masetto Don Giovanni. Highlights on the concert platform include Georg Muffat’s Missa in labore requies with Philharmonia Baroque; Beethoven Missa Solemnis with the Oslo Philharmonic conducted by Klaus Mäkelä; Hanns Eisler’s Deutsche Sinfonie with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under the baton of Carlos Miguel Prieto and a concert version of Don Giovanni at Tanglewood Festival with Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons.

Neal Davies is a British bass-baritone. Recent operatic engagements include performances of Jephtha (Zebul) with Music of the Baroque and Jane Glover, Yeoman of the Guard (Sergeant) and Don Alfonso Cosi fan tutte for the English National Opera, and Papageno in the Welsh National Opera’s production of The Magic Flute.

This season Neal sings concerts of Saul with Jonathan Cohen and the Handel & Haydn Society and will return to the English National Opera as Sir Joseph in HMS Pinafore. Notable concerts last season included Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ at the Festival Berlioz La Côte Saint André with Paul McCreesh and the NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic, Mozart’s Requiem Mass in D minor with Bernard Labadie and the Kansas City Symphony, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with Ryan Wigglesworth and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and joined Jonathan Cohen and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra for Bach’s St Matthew Passion. Neal also sang Dr Bartolo in the English National Opera’s production of The Marriage of Figaro.

Notable collaborations include concerts with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra under Mariss Jansons, BBC Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez, The Cleveland and Philharmonia orchestras under Christoph von Dohnányi, Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Frans Brüggen, English Concert with Harry Bicket, Gabrieli Consort under Paul McCreesh, Hallé Orchestra with Sir Mark Elder, Concerto Koeln under Ivor Bolton, Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Adam Fischer, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra with Edward Gardner, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin with David Zinman, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with Sir Andrew Davis, and the London Symphony and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras under Daniel Harding. He has been a regular guest of the Edinburgh Festival and BBC Proms.

Neal Davies studied at King’s College, London, and the Royal Academy of Music, and won the Lieder Prize at the 1991 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

Internationally renowned, calling Gateshead home.

37 musicians at the top of their game. Electrifying music, old and new. All the talent, determination, and creativity of the North East on a worldwide stage. From their home at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Royal Northern Sinfonia share the joy and wonder of orchestral music with thousands of people across the North of England – and beyond – every year.

From symphonies to string quartets, film soundtracks to choral masses, and original performances with awesome artists from Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Víkingur Ólafsson to Sam Fender and Self Esteem, the orchestra’s members have got one of the most varied jobs there is. They’re always looking for fresh new sounds from up-and-coming composers, inviting local communities to share a stage, and doing everything they can to inspire and prepare the musicians of tomorrow to one day take their place.

They’re also working hard to smash the barriers that can stop brilliant people getting into classical music. They’ve teamed up with national partners to support women conductors to develop their careers, to help global majority musicians get vital experience in the orchestra world, and to celebrate disabled and non-disabled musicians breaking new ground together in inclusive ensemble RNS Moves. And they bring new musical opportunities to the region, headlining the first-ever BBC Proms weekend outside London.

Because they whole-heartedly believe orchestral music is for anyone – big cities and rural villages, tiny babies and life-long listeners, die-hard fans and curious minds – they travel far and wide to make sure there’s top-notch classical music on offer in as many places as possible. You’ll find them in churches, castles, and community venues across the North, as well as leading the charge in Carlisle, Kendal, Middlesbrough, and Sunderland.

With 65 years of success to build on, they’ve signed a dynamic artistic leadership – Music Director Dinis Sousa, Artistic Partner Maria Włoszczowska, Principal Guest Conductor Nil Venditti and Associate Conductor Ellie Slorach – to lead the way into a bold, bright future.

Wherever the orchestra play and whoever they share a stage with, every performance is a chance to see, hear and feel the music.