Christoph Willibald Gluck  ORFEO ED EURIDICE
Opera in 3 acts
(sung in Italian with Lithuanian surtitles)
Music director and conductor Martynas Staskus
Director Jonas R. Jurasas
Designer Andrzey Strumiłło (Poland)
Lighting designer Martin Conboy (Canada)
Premiere: 28, 29 September, 5 October, 2007
“The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is one of the best known legends about how Love gains a victory over Death. If love’s divine triumph would not have been precluded by earthly delights and doubts, perhaps this death would have been non-existent. The myth is surrounded with great mystery – the ones that get close to it start developing thoughts about eternity, being, death and resurrection.
More than twenty composers wrote operas, ballets and symphonies based on the theme of Orpheus. There is an enormous amount of poetry and works of other genres, including movies, revolving around the myth. Today we have more than one hundred distinctive interpretations of Gluck’s opera, which are inspired by myth’s connection with the contemporary fright of death and loneliness. Also, a very intriguing aspect is a specific riddle – what really happened to Eurydice? What exactly was the cause of her death? The merest snake bite? Wrath of the gods? A catastrophe?
The biggest part of Gluck’s opera is the monologue of Orpheus’ sadness. His emotional scale is full of pain, confusion, rebellion against gods, ecstasy. But the most important item is emptiness, which is unavoidable for every soul walking down the road of life’s bereavements.
The objective of this performance is to discover a parallel between universality and contemporarity, to bring the lament of Orpheus closer to the tragic realities of our times and find relief in Gluck’s music, which is full of longing for harmony, beauty and perfection.
Together with the archetype of Orpheus, we invite the viewers to live for a while in the spaces of this singer’s imagination, which surpass reality. After meeting the challenge, let us travel together with Orpheus through the circles of his wandering, let us experience his allegiance to an ideal, as well as for the human weakness.“
(Director Jonas Jurasas)
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