Gluck—Orfeo ed Euridice

Dame Jane Glover leads the Chorus, Orchestra, and international stars Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen and Heidi Stober in our first performances of Gluck’s emotionally charged Orfeo ed Euridice. Follow Orpheus’s desperate journey to the Underworld as he tries to rescue his beloved Euridice, armed with nothing but his voice. Through stunning arias like “Che farò senza Euridice,” evocative choruses, and the famous “Dance of the Blessed Spirits,” will music—and love—conquer all?

Orfeo ed Euridice changed the whole direction of opera in the second half of the 18th century, as Gluck railed somewhat brutally against “the mistaken vanity of singers” who sacrificed storytelling to show off their spectacular technique. The myth of Orpheus and Euridice is one of the best stories of all time, with the intensely dramatic moment of human failure when Orpheus, trying to rescue Euridice from the Underworld, cannot restrain himself from turning to look at her and loses her forever. And, of course, it contains one of the best-known and best-loved arias in the entire operatic repertoire, “Che farò senza Euridice.” So many singers have made their names singing the title role, from the original castrato Guadagni to Ferrier to Baker. (The 1982 recording made at Glyndebourne with Janet Baker and conductor Raymond Leppard is one of the best—and I was incredibly privileged to be the Chorus Director.) The role of Orpheus has now become a showpiece for countertenors, and we are thrilled that Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, who sang Jephtha with us and is now at the very forefront of the countertenor world, will be joining us to sing the role for the first time. This will be truly special.
—Dame Jane Glover

By arrangement with European American Music Distributors Company, U.S. and Canadian agent for Baerenreiter-Verlag, publisher and copyright owner