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Cosi Fan Tutte

 All women are unfaithful. Philosopher Don Alfonso has no doubt about that. But will the opera Cosi Fan Tutte convince its audiences that he is right?

All philosophy aside, here’s an opera that will keep surprising and amusing you, no matter what you think of women. Offended by the misogynist remarks of their old friend, the philosopher Don Alfonso, Ferrando and Guglielmo agree to lay wagers on the outcome of a game he has designed to test the fidelity of their respective sweethearts, Dorabella and Fiordiligi. The two young men agree to obey the instructions of Alfonso (who has enlisted the help of Despina, the women’s assistant): they feign a heartbroken departure to the front, only to return a few hours later disguised as dashing Albanians, eager to win the favours of the abandoned sisters. The young women put up an outraged defence of their virtue but before long they are yielding to the exotic advances of the strangers. The conspirators gradually become enmeshed by their own plot and are dismayed to find they are as susceptible as their victims. Events culminate in a double wedding and all four lovers discover that no-one is exempt from the secret inconsistencies of love.