Mozart’s paradoxical Così fan tutte has puzzled critics since its belated return to the standard repertoire prior to World War II, having remained virtually unperformed for more than a century before.
San Francisco Opera’s new staging by Canadian Michael Cavanagh (seen Nov. 21) tilts towards broad comedy rather than to the more sublime, serious threads woven under the work’s surface. The excellent conductor Henrik Nánási’s at times breakneck underlined Cavanagh’s brisk, complexly
