A New Westminster performer is front and centre in a fresh take on one of Mozart’s best-known operas.
Opera Mariposa is staging a contemporary interpretation of Cosi fan tutte (“They all do it”), Nov. 30 to Dec. 8 at Marpole United Church in Vancouver.
New West soprano Kathryn Nickford stars in the leading role of Fiordiligi, double-cast alongside Jacqueline Ko (who appears Nov. 30 and Dec. 8).
Nickford is an award-winning singer who has performed across Canada, garnering accolades including the Herbert and Audrey Belyea Trophy and a Rose Bowl finalist nod for Winnipeg’s Music Festival, and a senior class win at the provincial music and speech arts finals.
She is best known to local audiences for her signature role, the Queen of the Night, from Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and she says she’s thrilled to sink her teeth into another famous Mozart character.
“Fiordiligi is so much fun to play,” Nickford says in a press release. “The plot of Cosi fan tutte is so wonderfully over-the-top, sort of like one of Shakespeare’s comedies, and Mozart’s virtuoso music is both a challenge and a treat to perform. I’m especially thrilled to be a part of a female-led, body-positive new interpretation of this work. Our reimagining moves the setting to a beachside resort – I’ve performed in a lot of different genres, from classical concerts to burlesque shows, but this is definitely the first time I’ve sung opera in a bathing suit!”
Stage director Robin Hahn says Nickford was a perfect fit for Fiordiligi.
“Fiordiligi is a role that requires an exceptional voice as well as great dramatic and comedic gifts,” Hahn says, “and Kathryn is absolutely perfect for the role. Legend has it that Mozart deliberately made Fiordiligi’s music extra-difficult, due to a feud he had with the singer who first portrayed the character. All I can say is, Kathryn is more than up to it!”
Nickford stars alongside an international cast hailing from across North America and Europe, conducted by Ian Dives and accompanied by Robin Goetz.
Nickford has also been invited to join Mariposa as a member of their Repertory Concert Artist Program, which presents commissioned concerts year-round throughout the Lower Mainland.
CHECK IT OUT
What: Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, presented by Opera Mariposa
When: Nov. 30, Dec. 1, 7 and 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Marpole United Church, 1296 West 67th Ave., Vancouver
Tickets: $28 general, $24 students and seniors, $18 each for groups of four or more. Available at the door, at www.operamariposa.com or from Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838-3006.
