The performance of Così fan tutte (also known as The School For Lovers) at this year’s Salzburg Festival is a contemporary rendition of the classic opera by Mozart. The opera offers an unfavorable view of women and their supposed fickleness, though it’s hard to say whether it is a self-aware, tongue-in-cheek criticism of all players in the game of love or merely an unfortunate example of gendered double standards seeping into the arts. The female members of the cast was discussing this very subject when they sat down next to our dinner table after the performance. Così fan tutte is clearly far from feminist but at least this is no Madame Butterfly.

Given that this was my first opera, I was thoroughly mentally unprepared for four hours of singing (in a foreign language, no less), but luckily, there were English and German subtitles. I quickly realized that the dialogue and the actual story — a questionable tale of fiancée swapping — mattered less than the singing itself. Though the opera is concerned with themes of betrayal, loss, and faithlessness, there are also several comedic sequences (and the performers displayed admirably impeccable timing).

The Salzburg Festival’s take on the tale is far from a traditional period piece. The set is a three-story home decorated in a modern, minimalist style. The characters are young adults with a penchant for drinking at the slightest emotional shift (which occurs often). Some suprisingly risqué and unconventional scenes literally hushed the audience, which was mostly made up of older, conservative-looking people.

The crowd, though far from diverse in terms of class, was somewhat international. (I heard more English during the intermission than I did in the previous two weeks in Europe.) There was a red carpet (ridiculous) and photographers ready to capture snaps of Austrian high society (also ridiculous). Most women wore expensive-looking gowns but expensive does not always translate to tasteful, and some were even clad in dirndls, a traditional Alpine-inspired dress which is entirely appropriate attire for formal events in Austria and Southern Germany, I’m told. I seized the opportunity to don the Carmen Marc Valvo number I purchased at a hefty discount last month in New York. An American imposter, yes, but how appropriate for an opera about masked identities.

Così fan tutte plays until August 26th at the House For Mozart in Salzburg.

Così fan tutte
Haus für Mozart
Hofstallgasse 1
Salzburg, Austria 5026
+43 662 8045500