Juneau’s Orpheus Project, formerly known as Opera to Go, will present its production of “L’Orfeo: The Tale of Orpheus” on February 12, 13 and 14 in Juneau.
The production features music direction by William Todd Hunt, production design and direction by Hunt and Sarah Schaefer Calvert, and costume design by Val Snyder. Hunt also serves as conductor.
The opera will be presented at 7:30 pm Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12 and 13, and at 3 pm Sunday, Feb. 14, at the Thunder Mountain High School Auditorium.
“L’Orfeo,” an opera by Claudio Monteverdi with libretto by Alessandro Striggio, tells the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, a Greek myth. An article published by NPR in 2012 states that though Monteverdi can’t really be said to have invented opera, his “Orfeo,” written in 1607, is the earliest example of the form that still reaches modern audiences.
“With ‘Orfeo,’ Monteverdi created the first opera that both survived the centuries and stuck in the repertory — a work of music and theater that displayed a brand new sort of artistic alchemy. … You might call it the first opera that actually ‘works,’ and it’s still working in opera houses all over the world 400 years after Monteverdi wrote it.” (Read the article here: http://www.npr.org/2010/01/08/122328598/the-root-of-all-opera-monteverdi-s-orfeo)
The story centers on the attempts of Orpheus, a musician, to rescue his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld after she is killed by a snake bite. Accompanied by his lyre, Orpheus presents his case to Hades and Persephone (in the opera they use their alternate names, Pluto and Proserpine), and manages to move them with his music enough for them to grant his wish to bring her back from the Underworld. He is told she will follow him back to the land of the living, however, he must not look back to see if she is there until they are both above ground. Orpheus almost makes it but at the last moment turns his head to see her and she disappears.
The cast features Kathleen Wayne as Eurydice, and Sumner Thompson of Boston as Orfeo, as well as visiting performers Peter Morgan of Chicago and Steven Arends of Portland, and local performers Zebadiah Bodine, Wendy Byrnes, Cindee Brown-Mills, Amanda Beebe, Rebekah Grimes, Jill Geering Matheson and Jessica Snyder.
Guest musicians include Paul Shipper of NYC, August Denhard of Seattle, Tomoko Sugawara of NYC, John Lutterman of Anchorage, Jamila Hla Shwe of Fairbanks, and Dawn Lindsay of Anchorage
To find out more, or buy tickets online, visit http://www.operatogo.net
