A comic opera in two acts about the fickleness of women performed by HAMU students at the Disk... The alleged amorality of the story condemned Cosi fan tutte (They are all like that), Mozart's last opera to a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, to numerous contemporary adaptations and even to oblivion during the 19th century. What was the outrage? Following a bet, two bachelors in exotic disguises successfully exchange their fiancées, who have sworn eternal fidelity to them before parting. It's an old-fashioned plot based on a judgment on female constancy and male boastfulness arising from exaggerated vanity...

We are off on an excursion, two excursions in fact, in the company of a landlord from Prague, who is, let us say, a little rough around the edges. The first journey of Mr Brouček is to the Moon where our beer-drinking hero (literally ‘Mr Beetle’) meets the oh-so sophisticated Moon-dwellers. In the second, we travel through time to the early 15th century to a heroic period in Czech history when the Czechs fought off armies of crusaders from the rest of Europe. Will Mr Brouček fare any better in Prague circa 1420, when Czechs are on the eve of a famous victory defending their Hussite faith? For this new production from the heart of the composer’s home country, Janáček Festival Brno has entrusted the staging to the famous Canadian director, Robert Carsen who thus opens the 2024 Festival with this, his sixth production of a Janáček opera.