Opera Review: The Da Ponte Code

Columbia's Casa Italia premieres Così Faran Tutti.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Cosí monsters: Ariana Chris, Mary Elizabeth Mackenzie, Glenn Seven Allen
and Marcy Richardson in Jonathan Dawe's Cosí Faran Tutti. Photo by Joel Graham.

Writing a new opera takes a certain amount of courage. But when that new work is a prequel to one of Mozart's legendary collaborations with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, the creation and staging of that work becomes a matter of sheer nerve.