Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte

Originally staged by Opera Otago for the Dunedin Arts Festival in 2008, director Jacqueline Coats and producer Georgia Jamieson Emms are reviving this beach-themed "Cosi fan tutte" as a touring production.

The tour will go to five centres in the lower North Island: Lower Hutt, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Wairarapa (Carterton) and Kapiti Coast (Paraparaumu). These are communities where audiences have very few, if any, opportunites to experience opera without travelling a long distance.

We want to make the most of the wealth of operatic talent that is grown in New Zealand. Our six cast members are all Kiwis who did their operatic training in NZ. Several of them have taken their careers overseas and are returning especially to be a part of this project.

We want to have affordable ticket prices to encourage first-time opera audiences, and we will perform in English to make audiences feel fully immersed in the action and comedy. Our goal is to make opera fun, accessible and appealing to all ages.

We are approaching schools and reaching out to young people, offering special ticket prices to students, to help build an audience for the future. We believe exposure to classical music through a fun, comic opera can develop a life-long love of this art form.