Deborah Frances-White on Chance Encounters and Mozart

The Open Ears Project

Deborah Frances-White is a comedian, writer, and host of “The Guilty Feminist” podcast, where she explores the balancing act between feminist idealism and human imperfection.

In this episode, White reflects on her upbringing as a Jehovah’s Witness and shares a story about the first time she saw a performance of Mozart’s opera “Così fan tutte.” On the train home from the performance, she shared a serendipitous encounter with a stranger that could have been lifted from an opera plot. To this day, when White listens to “Soave si il vento” — a trio from the opera meaning “may the wind be gentle” — it evokes for her “the longing and the loss for all the loves that might have been.”

This performance of “Soave sia il vento” comes from the 1997 EMI recording of “Così fan tutte” by the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Riccardo Muti.