Vancouver Opera continues its 2025 to 2026 season this February with Così fan tutte, bringing the opera back to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre for three performances. Vancouver audiences have not seen this opera on the mainstage in more than twenty years, so this revival feels long overdue.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed Così fan tutte with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. People often describe it as a comedy, but that barely scratches the surface. Beneath the playful disguises and clever twists, the opera offers a sharp, thoughtful look at love, loyalty, and how quickly certainty can slip away.
Cosi Fan Tutte – the Plot
The story follows two young men, Ferrando and Guglielmo, who place complete confidence in their fiancées’ faithfulness. Don Alfonso, an older skeptic, challenges that confidence with a wager. He persuades the men to disguise themselves and test their partners’ devotion. Despina, the quick-witted maid who sees through everyone’s pretences, helps set the scheme in motion. Soon, Dorabella and Fiordiligi face desire, doubt, and their own assumptions about love.
Così fan tutte endures because Mozart understands human nature so deeply. He never turns the characters into simple jokes. Instead, he allows each of them to feel conflicted, vulnerable, and fully human. The opera asks uncomfortable questions without rushing toward easy answers, and it trusts the audience to sit with the emotional complexity.
More Than Just an Opera
Mozart wrote the score late in his life, and it contains some of his most beautiful music. Intimate arias meet sparkling ensemble pieces, shifting constantly between tenderness and humour. Mozart gives emotional weight to Da Ponte’s clever libretto and turns what could have been a simple farce into something lasting and deeply relatable.
Productions like this show why Vancouver Opera plays such an important role in the city’s cultural life. As the second largest professional opera company in Canada, Vancouver Opera has built an international reputation for its mainstage productions, country-leading education programs, and innovative community initiatives. The company consistently balances artistic excellence with accessibility, welcoming seasoned opera lovers and newcomers into the theatre.
A Canadian Take on an Opera Classic
This new production of Così fan tutte is directed by Rob Herriot, making his Vancouver Opera debut, with a contemporary West Coast Canadian perspective. The Vancouver Opera Orchestra is conducted by Leslie Dala.
The all-Canadian cast features Daniel Okulitch as Don Alfonso, Clarence Frazer as Guglielmo, and Owen McCausland as Ferrando. Jamie Groote makes her Vancouver Opera debut as Fiordiligi, joined by Alex Hetherington as Dorabella. Tracy Dahl appears as Despina.
One for the Books
Vancouver Opera General Director Tom Wright has described Così fan tutte as one of opera’s most emotionally rich and inviting works, noting its ability to resonate just as strongly with first-time audiences as it does with longtime Mozart admirers. That balance of wit, warmth, and emotional honesty is what has kept this opera alive for more than two centuries.
Così fan tutte runs for three performances in February at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Tickets are on sale now, and subscriptions for Vancouver Opera’s 2025 to 2026 season are still available. Full details can be found at vancouveropera.ca.
Vancouver Opera’s work is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada, the BC Arts Council, the BC Provincial Government, the City of Vancouver Cultural Services, and Vancouver Civic Theatres.
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