THE MYTH OF ORPHEUS

Virtuoso arias from Monteverdi to Gluck

H. SCHULZ (Orfeo), M. PLODERER (Narrator), Y.LEBEDENKO (violin), V.VASILCHENKO (piano)

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is the archetypal tale of the power of music and the inevitability of death. In this unique operatic pastiche, the ancient legend is brought to life anew – in a rich interweaving of highly emotional Baroque music and contemporary poetry.

The plot begins at a moment of profound uncertainty: the Thracian singer Orpheus returns home after a long absence, only to discover that his newlywed wife Eurydice has vanished without a trace. His desperate search leads him to the bitter realisation: Hades himself, the lord of the underworld, has abducted her into his shadowy realm. Driven by the admonishing voice of a narrator, Orpheus embarks on a perilous journey to the River Acheron. At this magical border crossing, where the dead linger before drinking the waters of Lethe to forget, he encounters the shadow of his beloved. Yet the encounter at the intersection of life and death unfolds differently than hope had promised.

Musically, this pasticcio reflects the diversity of Baroque settings of the Orpheus myth. At its heart lie the immortal melodies of Christoph Willibald Gluck, including the deeply moving “Ach, ich habe sie verloren” and the ethereal “Reigen seliger Geister”. This panorama is complemented by highly virtuosic arias by Joseph Haydn (L’anima del filosofo), Johann Joseph Fux and Nicola Porpora.