Glyndebourne on Tour is preparing for the road again, and this year Woking, Stoke, Norwich, Milton Keynes and Plymouth have a treat in store right from the start. As so often happens, one of Glyndebourne’s big shows really catches fire with its new young cast and takes on a whole new life on tour.

Nicholas Hytner’s elegant Così fan tutte couldn’t displease anyone; but in Ashley Dean’s staging for the revival, its subtle thread of psychological evolution becomes even more compelling. This “School for Lovers” is a merciless one. As the final chorus declares, happy those lovers who can listen to reason’s dictates; but for most of us, as Don Alfonso well knows, it just ends in tears.

This production has been searching for its ideal Don Alfonso — and in Riccardo Novaro it comes pretty near to finding him. Mozart and Rossini are his specialities, so it’s stylishly and powerfully sung — and with a brooding darkness that nicely matches the stern reality of this Despina. No flirting between them here: she always was a feisty, no-nonsense little number, and now, in Simona Mihai’s sour-sweet performance, the vestiges of charm are wiped by a sad wisdom that recognises when she has messed up.

“You should act like women!” she taunts Fiordiligi and Dorabella. But what does this mean? Both Gillian Ramm’s intensely thoughtful Fiordiligi and Lucia Cirillo’s deliciously resinous and sensual Dorabella have differing understandings — and they’re gripping to watch. Ramm is as deeply into the role as any Fiordiligi I have seen on this stage. And Cirillo, a Baroque musician by pedigree, counterpoints Ramm’s Fiordiligi with robust musical and dramatic intelligence.

Ferrando is the weakest link here: Andrew Tortise sounds not really quite vocally ready for the role as yet. The two big treats are the brightly articulated and beautifully phrased playing of the GOT Orchestra under the perceptive baton of Patrick Lange; and the outstanding Guglielmo of Jacques Imbrailo. The South African baritone has come on by leaps and bounds: the new dramatic authority in his voice makes me impatient for his Billy Budd at Glyndebourne next summer.

Box office: 01273 813813, to Oct 31, then touring

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