Così fan tutte 1981Scottish Opera
Read more about the opera Così fan tutte
This was the final run of the classic 1967 Anthony Besch staging, with a cast completely new to it, including the conductor. The other novelty is that, for the first time, it was sung in Italian. The five Glasgow performances were followed by a further five in February 1982, with two in Edinburgh and three in Newcastle.
The staging still seemed as intelligent and witty as ever, and there was no weak link in the singing or acting. Ann Murray had sung Dorabella in Edinburgh with the Cologne company the previous year. Margaret Marshall went on to sing Fiordiligi under Riccardo Muti at Salzburg, and Ann Murray joined that staging the following year. The cast originally announced included the young Scottish soprano Marie McLaughlin as Despina. However she dropped out, and her appearances in her native land were astonishingly infrequent. She did eventually get round to singing Despina in Scotland, when the David McVicar production had its first run in 2009.
Performance Cast
- Ferrando a young army officer
- Guglielmo another officer, Ferrando's friend
- Don Alfonso a middle-aged bachelor
- Fiordiligi a young lady from Ferrara, engaged to Guglielmo
- Dorabella Fiordiligi's sister, engaged to Ferrando
- Despina maidservant to the sisters