The Met’s 26-27 HD series started today with a reprise of Phelim McDermott’s production which was previously telecast by the company in 2018. You can read about the production set in 1950s Coney Island in my review of that telecast. Surprisingly, placing the story in an exaggerated version of the south Brooklyn amusement area worked, or didn’t detract from Da Ponte’s libretto.
“The story ends exactly as Mozart and Da Ponte wrote it. The girls promise to behave and everybody lives happily ever after. Of course, it can be played very differently. Who would pair with whom? Could there ever be trust among these four after the events of the opera’s single fateful day? Life is messy and complicated and all the complex emotions in this story which can be glossed by a surface reading of the libretto are fully expressed by Mozart’s multifaceted music which is funny, poignant, beautiful, and always apposite.” The quotation is taken from my review of the 2014 telecast of Lesley Koenig’s 1996 production.
“Così, the least popular of the three Da Ponte operas and in my…opinion the best, has long been a ‘problem’ opera. What is it really saying about women, relationships, fidelity, and human nature in general? Its greatness lies in its ambiguity. It can be played for comedy, as it mostly was in this performance. But relying solely on comedy misses the poignance and uncertainty of this most complex and profound of comedies. Only Verdi’s Falstaff reaches Così’s profundity. When Da Ponte’s brilliant libretto is combined with Mozart’s gorgeous and insightful score, the result is one of opera’s ultimate masterpieces.” From the 2018 review. The opera also has Mozart’s most richest abundance of fine melodies.
The cast was uniformly first rate. The ladies’ costumes seemed different from the last telecast, but the singing was as outstanding as before. Federica Lombardi handled the opera’s most challenging part, Fiordiligi, with ease. Her sister, Dorabella was played by mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey who has a lush and mobile voice. Veteran soprano Ana María Martínez was fine as the chambermaid Despina, who helps Don Alfonso deceive the sisters She artfully used different voices when pretending to be a doctor or a notary.
The two leading young men were again ranked too high when in their naval uniforms. They had two and a half stripes on their sleeves making them Lt Commanders – a rank way too high for men in their early twenties. Korean-born, American-trained tenor Duke Kim has previously sung Tamino in the Met’s English holiday version. He has a lovely lyric tenor that shows great promise. He delivered a sensitive reading of ‘Un’aura amorosa’. Moldovan baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky was excellent as Guglielmo. He seems ready for bigger baritone roles.
Gerald Finley is a superb musician, but is less of a comedian. While he seemed to be having fun wearing all the outrageous costumes assigned to his part he didn’t appear to be the conniving string-puller that Don Alfonso is.
Israeli conductor Nimrod David Pfeffer has conducted nothing but Mozart at the Met. His repertoire away from New York is much more varied. He led the Met’s orchestra in a vigorous and sensitive performance of Mozart’s masterpiece.
The fire eater, snake charmer, contortionist, and other assorted performers not typically seen on an opera stage added to the ersatz Coney Island setting.
This operas can be played for laughs or offer a dark picture of human relationships. This performance leaned more to comedy than the complex interactions between the sexes. Nevertheless, its worth catching the rerun next week if you missed today’s show.
Così fan tutte — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte
Metropolitan Opera, Live in HD — October 3, 2026
Cast
Fiordiligi — Federica Lombardi
Dorabella — Samantha Hankey
Despina — Ana María Martínez
Ferrando — Duke Kim
Guglielmo — Andrey Zhilikhovsky
Don Alfonso — Gerald Finley
Skills Ensemble
Betty Bloomerz, Sarah Rebecca Folkins, Arthur Lazalde, Leo the Human Gumby, Griffin Massey, Jonathan Nosan, Cristina Pitter, Eli Rose, Sage Sovereign, Anna Venizelos, Josh Walker, and Zoe Ziegfeld.
Musical and Production Team
Conductor — Nimrod David Pfeffer
Production — Phelim McDermott
Revival Stage Director — Sara Erde
Set Designer — Tom Pye
Costume Designer — Laura Hopkins
Lighting Designer — Paule Constable
Chorus Director — Tilman Michael
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Telecast
Video Director — Gary Halvorson
Host — Christine Goerke
