It’s a comic battle of the sexes on this week’s Sunday Opera (6/21 3:00 p.m.) with a bit of fiancée swapping from the minds of Lorenzo Da Ponte and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte, ossia la scuola degli amanti” which translates with some care to “Women Are Like That or The School for Lovers”
A wager turns into a trial for sisters Fiordiligi (Erica Petrocelli) and Dorabella (Rihab Chaieb) when Don Alfonso (Rob Gilfrey) bets their fiancées Ferrando (Anthony Leon) and Guglielmo (Justin Austin) that the sisters will never be faithful to them. The test involves the men masquerading as “amorous Albanians” in order to woo the sisters and test them.With the help of Despina the maid (Ana Maria Martinez) who is bribed into service by Alfonso, and the sisters fall in love – with the other’s disguised fiancé.However, it all ends happily when they forgive the men, leaving one to wonder if anyone will ever be able to trust the other ever again.
The conductor for this performance is James Conlon who leads the Lyric Opera of Chicago Chorus and Orchestra.
In the remaining time together, we’ll turn to music of Paul Dukas and his Symphony in C major performed by the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Jean-Luc Tingaud, conducting..
