L’Orfeo

The first masterpiece of the operatic repertoire, and a true gem: since 1607, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo has celebrated the power of music. Can the poet with his lyre, whose singing charms even wild animals, win back his beloved Eurydice from the infernal gods?

Based in the Yonne region and renowned for its historically informed interpretations of Baroque music, Les Épopées and its musical director Stéphane Fuget have made Monteverdi’s trilogy (L’Orfeo, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, L’incoronazione di Poppea) a highlight of their repertoire. Together with the Dijon Opera Choir, they bring to life Monteverdi’s “musical fable” based on a libretto by Alessandro Striggio: the magic of words and sensuality of sound intertwine to depict the joy of bucolic wedding festivities, suddenly shattered by Eurydice’s death from a serpent’s bite. To bring her back from the Underworld, Orfeo must not look at her — an impossible task for one who loves as he does. Orfeo loses Eurydice… yet Apollo ensures they are reunited for eternity...

Libretto Alessandro Striggio

Musical director Stéphane Fuget 
Orchestre Les Épopées
Dijon Opera Choir

Orfeo Valerio Contaldo 
Euridice, Musica Jennifer Courcier
Messagiera, Speranza Eva Zaïcik
Proserpina, Ninfa Claire Lefilliâtre 
Plutone, Caronte, Pastore Luigi De Donato
Apollo, Pastore, Spirito Cyril Auvity
Pastore Clément Debieuvre
Eco, Pastore, Spirito Vlad Crosman

^{Photo © William Beaucardet}