Vince Liotta, head of Stage Directing for opera at IU School of Music, said the operas this year are all about different variations of love and how love affects humanity in different ways. After the first opera, "The Elixir of Love," in which love was examined for pure enjoyment, IU Opera Theater will present "Cosi Fan Tutte" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It opens at 8 p.m. Friday at the Musical Arts Center and runs through Oct. 28. "Richard Strauss really started it back in the repertoire," said Herbert Kellner, guest stage director for this production. "He almost single-handedly got people thinking about it again and sort of brought it back into the repertoire. I find it a magnificent challenge with incredibly magnificent music." "Cosi Fan Tutte" roughly translates to "that's the way women are." The opera is about two pairs of lovers and how they think and feel about each other. Ferrando and Guglielmo, two soldiers, make a bet with each other about how faithful their lovers Dorabella and Fiordiligi will be. With the aid of Don Alfonso and Despina, they masquerade as going off to war, leaving their lovers free to either be faithful or carefree. Slyly, the two men dress up so their lovers won't recognize them, and each begins to court the other's lover. In doing this, they realize how they truly feel about their lovers. "On the surface, it appears to be a little bit slapstick, but I think the music is so serious that it lends itself to deeper thought," said graduate student Corey McKern, who will play Guglielmo. "I think there are real human emotions there that are serious. "I probably have the least serious role, in some ways. You have four different character types ranging from very serious to shallow, and that's what I think it's interesting -- because these characters are believable today." "Cosi Fan Tutte" marks the homecoming for guest director Kellner to IU. He graduated in 1975 from the opera directing graduate program. Since then, Kellner has been at the Lyric Opera of Chicago working as an assistant stage manager. "We were students together at the time that he was at school here," said Mark Clark, a friend of Kellner and producer of IU Opera Theater. "I followed his career and I met him in Chicago a couple of times. I've asked him a number of times to direct at IU and he's always been too busy. We're very fortunate to get him." Kellner is not only directing "Cosi Fan Tutte," He's also teaching a course at the School of Music. In addition to his work, he has enjoyed the nostalgia of being back at IU after so much time away. "I have to say everyday I turn a corner and I run into something that reminds me of people and things that happened," said Kellner. "I've gone by a lot of the apartments I lived in while I was here. It's a strange feeling in some ways. And in some ways it's amazing how comfortable it was to come back, and in some ways it feels like I never left." But with Kellner, "Cosi Fan Tutte" was still the first priority. "You could just sit there and close your eyes and listen to the music and nothing else, and you'll come away from the evening being fulfilled." For more information, visit www.music.indiana.edu.
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