In addition to its esteemed national reputation for training gifted student singers and instrumentalists, the New World School of the Arts offers a number of events that are open to the public. This weekend, the school's College Opera Ensemble will present Mozart's Cosi fan tutte in two fully staged performances. Mozart's comedy contains some of the composer's finest music, and the New World's imaginative production sounds like great fun, shifting the action to a modern-day cruise ship with Don Alfonso as cruise director, Despina as a cabin stewardess and the two pairs of lovers as vacationers. The production features conductor Alfred Gershfeld, Catherine Spitzer and Betsy Diaz Dorabella. The price is right: $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, 174 E. Flagler, Miami. Call 305-237-7855.
The Miami Bach Society concludes its season Monday night with a genuine rarity. Donald Oglesby will lead the Frost School of Music's Collegium Musicum in Heinrich Schutz's German Requiem. Works of Sweelinck, Charpentier and Eccles will also be performed. Tickets are $30 and $40, with free admission for students. Concert time is 8 p.m. Monday at St. Philip's Episcopal Church, 1142 Coral Way, Coral Gables. Call 305-669-1376 or go online at www.miamibachsociety.org.
-- LAWRENCE A. JOHNSON
