COSI FAN TUTTE Live in HD Summer Encore

Met music director Emeritus James Levine leads charismatic cast in Mozart's joyful and heart rendering masterpiece Cosi fan tutte on Wednesday July 20th at 7pm.

Così fan tutte, a comic masterpiece about the romantic complications that ensue when a pair of friends decide to test their fiancée's fidelity. Lesley Koenig's sleek production features a cast filled with rising Met stars, including Susanna Phillipsand Isabel Leonard as the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella; Matthew Polenzaniand Rodion Pogossov as their fiancés, Ferrando and Guglielmo; and Danielle de Niese as their feisty maid Despina. Maurizio Muraro is the cynical Don Alfonso.

"I don't think I have ever heard a more vibrant, masterly and natural performance than this... glowing, crisp and buoyant account of Mozart's..."Così Fan Tutte." Lesley Koenig's simple, sunny, and charmingly traditional production from 1996 [features a] winning cast [which] performed like a crack comedic theater troupe. [Mr. Polenzani] had Mozartian elegance along with exciting, tenorial ping. He brought honeyed sound and melting pianissimos to the sublime aria "Un'aura amorosa." The soprano Susanna Phillips had what could be a breakthrough night at the Met as Fiordiligi. She has the purity and bloom of a Mozart lyric soprano. Yet her voice can lift phrases with penetrating sound and deep richness. The mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard is a plush-voiced and feisty Dorabella. In their many passages performed in sisterly duet, Ms. Phillips and Ms. Leonard sang with impressively true pitch and a beautifully blended sound. And the exquisite, vivacious soprano Danielle de Niese nearly stole the show as the sassy, worldly-wise Despina." - The New York Times

"This was prime Levine: a lithe, energetic, transparent account of Mozart's miraculous score, brisk but not rushed, polished and profound." - Associated Press

itus James Levine conducts Mozart's barbed romanceCosì fan tutte, a comic masterpiece about the romantic complications that ensue when a pair of friends decide to test their fiancée's fidelity. Lesley Koenig's sleek production features a cast filled with rising Met stars, including Susanna Phillipsand Isabel Leonard as the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella; Matthew Polenzaniand Rodion Pogossov as their fiancés, Ferrando and Guglielmo; and Danielle de Niese as their feisty maid Despina. Maurizio Muraro is the cynical Don Alfonso.

"I don't think I have ever heard a more vibrant, masterly and natural performance than this... glowing, crisp and buoyant account of Mozart's..."Così Fan Tutte." Lesley Koenig's simple, sunny, and charmingly traditional production from 1996 [features a] winning cast [which] performed like a crack comedic theater troupe. [Mr. Polenzani] had Mozartian elegance along with exciting, tenorial ping. He brought honeyed sound and melting pianissimos to the sublime aria "Un'aura amorosa." The soprano Susanna Phillips had what could be a breakthrough night at the Met as Fiordiligi. She has the purity and bloom of a Mozart lyric soprano. Yet her voice can lift phrases with penetrating sound and deep richness. The mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard is a plush-voiced and feisty Dorabella. In their many passages performed in sisterly duet, Ms. Phillips and Ms. Leonard sang with impressively true pitch and a beautifully blended sound. And the exquisite, vivacious soprano Danielle de Niese nearly stole the show as the sassy, worldly-wise Despina." - The New York Times

"This was prime Levine: a lithe, energetic, transparent account of Mozart's miraculous score, brisk but not rushed, polished and profound." - Associated Press

Check out a sneak peek of the Act I finale below.

Photo Credit: Marty Sohl