Joseph Pfender: What inspired you to direct Mozart’s Così fan tutte in particular?
Renée Fleming: Having performed this opera early in my career (as Fiordiligi), I’ve encountered its challenges, and I’ve often thought of how a director might address them. It’s fun, and intimate, really like a play, and I’m a constant theater-goer. And of course there is the truly sublime music.
JP: What do you think makes a successful production of Così?
RF: Though it’s a delightful comedy, Cosi presents some challenges that are important to solve. First, attitudes have evolved, and this piece is not particularly respectful to women. The title literally means, “That’s how women are.” So we have to address that. And a second challenge is the element of disguise that the plot hinges on, which needs to be believable. Then it’s about keeping the pacing lively, while allowing the many moments of exquisite music to shine.
JP: This production adds the hyper-gendered culture of professional wrestling and boxing to the background of the drama. What aspects of the opera does this angle open up?
RF: The dawn of the professional wrestling craze offers us the colorful, theatrical disguises that Ferrando and Guglielmo need to try to fool Fiordiligi and Dorabella. And our setting in a community gym creates fantastic opportunities for physicality, including the advent of the women’s fitness movement with Jane Fonda and aerobics.
JP: Also, there’s an interesting duality in casting the singers as teenagers, when the opera itself is composed near the end of Mozart’s career. Do very young protagonists bring something to the drama that age and experience might not?
RF: Absolutely. I think of this as a coming-of-age story, so young performers will underline the innocence of the story. The protagonists are high-school age in our production, which is in fact accurate for unmarried couples in the original period of the opera. These characters are really figuring out who they are when it comes to love and relationships. Alfonso, being an older philosopher, is interesting in this configuration as well.
JP: Mozart in particular seems to be a great vehicle for young singers: this Così follows AOTVA’s Le nozze di Figaro in 2024 and Don Giovanni in 2022. Are there ways in which Mozart’s operas, or maybe his vocal writing specifically, are pedagogically useful for the AOTVA program?
RF: Mozart is the most exacting composer for singers, because his music requires a kind of perfectionism, a crystalline intention and flawless intonation. Everything shows, and there’s no getting away with anything. I think of Mozart as one of my most demanding voice teachers. So yes, it’s the ideal material for developing the skills of emerging vocal artists. And Mozart’s operas with Da Ponte are considered absolute masterpieces of the genre.
JP: You will be collaborating with Patrick Summers, your fellow Co-Artistic Director of Aspen Opera Theater and VocalArts, who will conduct this opera in the Wheeler Opera House. Could you describe your creative process with him on this project, and on the AOTVA program more generally?
RF: Because Patrick and I have performed together often, we have a deeply collaborative relationship. I have such respect for him as a conductor and musician. We even won a Grammy award for the album Bel Canto that we did together. His vast knowledge as a scholar and historian is also something that he brings to AOTVA. We have our respective priorities for what we want the young artists to accomplish, but we find that those priorities align.
— © Joseph Pfender
