Orpheus and Eurydice

September 25, 28, 30, October 2 and 3, 2010

A voice so beautiful he can charm the gods.

Not even the underworld can separate Orpheus from his lost love, Eurydice, on his journey from heartbreak to ultimate triumph. Internationally renowned countertenor David Daniels stars opposite the exquisite Susanna Phillips in ancient Greece's legendary love story. The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra joins Minnesota Opera in this stylish new production.

Sung in Italian with English translations projected above the stage.

Estimated run time, including intermission is 2 hours and 2 minutes.

Dates + Performances

*Section F is Partial View. Stage and/or surtitles may be partially obstructed from seats in this area.

+Student/Senior discount is available Tuesdays and Thursdays only. To order, call the Ticket Office at 612-333-6669 Mon.-Fri., 9am-6pm.

Act One

The tomb of Eurydice  Orpheus and mourners lament the death of Eurydice. Orpheus pleads to the gods to either take his life or restore his love. He proclaims his intention to go to Hades to take her back. Amore appears and declares that Zeus has been moved by his tears and will allow him the journey under one condition – he must not look at Eurydice until they have returned to the mortal world. Orpheus is ecstatic – hope has returned.

Act Two

Scene one – a terrifying cave beyond the Cocytus  At the gates of Hades near the river of lamentation, Orpheus encounters incensed shades and furies, who denounce his brazen plan to seize a soul from their clutches. Orpheus soothes their anger with the sound of his beautiful voice and they allow him to pass.

Scene two – the Elysian Fields  Orpheus marvels at the beauty of the Elysian Fields and gazes among the fallen heroes for the face of Eurydice. They lead her forward out of his view and the two lovers are blindly reunited.

Act Three

Scene one – a dark cavern on the banks of Lethe  At the river of forgetfulness, where the dead drink the waters to forget the past, Orpheus leads Eurydice (still obscured from view) and hears her voice once again. Eurydice rejoices in her impeding reincarnation while Orpheus coolly hurries her along. She is confused by his icy efficiency and begs him to look at her. When Orpheus doesn't, she hesitates, fearing he no longer loves her. Eurydice refuses to go further, preferring to remain dead and tormented. Tortured by his secret mission, Orpheus absentmindedly turns to look at her and Eurydice dies once again.

Scene two – the same  Orpheus laments his fate, and still wishing to join his soul mate, tries to kill himself. Seeing his deep anguish, Amore returns and restores Eurydice to life.

Scene three – a magnificent temple dedicated to love  The people celebrate the return of Eurydice. Orpheus exclaims the triumph of love over death, and Eurydice realizes the power of fidelity.

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Orpheus and Eurydice

Creative Team

The Cast

Harry Bicket (conductor)

Internationally renowned as an opera and concert conductor of distinction, Harry Bicket is especially noted for his interpretation of baroque and classical repertoire, and became Artistic Director of The English Concert in 2007, one of the UK's finest period orchestras. Born in Liverpool, he studied at the Royal College of Music and Oxford University and is an accomplished harpsichordist.

The 2010–2011 season includes Hong Kong Philharmonic, Los Angeles, Baroque Band and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras and opera productions for Chicago Lyric (Hercules), Minnesota (Orfeo), Canadian Opera Company (Orfeo), as well as extensive concert and touring projects with The English Concert, featuring soloists such as Ian Bostridge, Alice Coote, Sara Mingardo and Rachel Podger. Future plans include return visits to orchestras such as Chicago Symphony Orchestra and opera productions for Bordeaux Opera, Canadian Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera and several for the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

Highlights of recent seasons include Los Angeles Philharmonic, his Japanese début with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, productions for the Liceu Barcelona (L'arbore di Diana), Theater an der Wien (Iphigénie en Tauride), Atlanta Opera (Orfeo), Canadian Opera Company (Idomeneo). Critically acclaimed concerts and tours with The English Concert (BBC Proms, Spain, Middle East, Austria, Germany, USA) and his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as returns to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (including the world premiere of Ken Hesketh's oratorio Like the Sea, Like Time), Rotterdam Philharmonic (St. Matthew Passion), Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Opera has included Santa Fe Opera (Platée, Radamisto), Minnesota Opera (Croesus), Theater an der Wien (Mitridate). Other recent performances include Messiah and Missa solemnis with Minnesota Orchestra, Messiah with the New York Philharmonic and critically acclaimed debuts with the Israel Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. Symphonic guest conducting has included San Francisco Symphony, Bayerische Rundfunk, Detroit Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Houston, Symphony, Seattle Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, NACO Ottawa, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Indianapolis Symphony.

Bicket has appeared widely with period orchestras and ensembles, including Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Handel and Haydn Society, as well as festivals such as Glimmerglass, Spoleto, Aspen, Tanglewood and Santa Fe. He has enjoyed great success with leading mainstream symphonic orchestras – his programs often showcase his gift for choral repertoire, from the great Passions, Masses and Oratorios of the baroque and classical eras to the works of Fauré, Elgar and Tippett.

Staged opera has included Opera Australia (Giulio Cesare); Scottish Opera (Gluck's Orfeo); New York City Opera (Figaro, Entführung, Clemenza, Rinaldo); Royal Danish Opera (Gluck's Orfeo); Glimmerglass (Partenope, Agrippina); New Israeli Opera (Poppea); Aldeburgh Festival (Purcell's The Faerie Queen); Edinburgh Festival (Clemenza); Spoleto Festival (Giasone, Tamerlano, L'ile de Merlin); English National Opera (Orfeo, Ariodante, Semele, Xerxes, Combattimento), Welsh National Opera (La clemenza di Tito); and Opera North (Radamisto, Return of Ulysses, The Magic Flute, Croesus), Los Angeles Opera (Cesare, Poppea); Canadian Opera (Rodelinda, Idomeneo).

He made his Glyndebourne Festival debut in 1996 with Peter Sellars' landmark production of Theodora and returned in 1999 and 2003. In 2004, he began his relationship with the Metropolitan Opera with an acclaimed new production of Rodelinda with Renée Fleming and David Daniels, and was immediately re-engaged for Cesare (2006–2007) and La clemenza di Tito (2008). He made his début with the Bayerische Staatsoper in 2000 (Rinaldo, new production) and over the following seven years was a regular guest conductor, including Ariodante, Serse, Orlando, Orfeo, Barbiere, Entführung and Zauberflöte. In 2001, his first Barcelona production, Giulio Cesare, earned him the Opera Critics Prize for best conductor. He has since returned for A Midsummer Night's Dream (2005), Ariodante (2006) and L'arbore di Diana (2009). 2003 saw debuts with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, conducting Partenope, and with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden conducting Handel's Orlando, which received an Olivier Award nomination for Best New Opera Production.

Bicket's discography includes five recordings with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, including a collection of Handel opera arias with Renée Fleming (Decca) and Ian Bostridge (EMI), as well as selections from Handel's Theodora, Serse, and the cantata La Lucrezia with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Avie), which was nominated for a Grammy Award. His Gramophone Award-nominated CDs include Sento Amor with David Daniels featuring arias by Gluck, Handel and Mozart (Virgin Veritas) and Il tenero momento with Susan Graham featuring arias by Mozart and Gluck (Erato). His Virgin Classics recording in 2008 (his first with The English Concert) featured Bach arias and cantatas with David Daniels, and 2010 saw the release of Handel Duets (Chandos) with Sarah Connolly, Rosie Joshua and The English Concert.

Lee Blakeley (stage director)

Lee Blakeley was born in Yorkshire, England. He studied directing, acting and singing at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and at Glasgow University.

Whilst studying he directed several drama productions, and gained further experience assisting at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre and the RSAMD. On leaving college, he directed his first music theater production – Gigi – in Glasgow. Lee Blakeley directed a student premiere of A Grand Night for Singing at the Royal Schools of Music in 1996. He went on to gain experience as Company Manager and Producer of several shows.

He also researched the acclaimed CD-ROM, The Art of Singing. Other projects as dramaturg include Les contes d'Hoffmann for De Vlaamse Opera, a new production of Billy Budd at the Lyric Opera Chicago and script reading and development for ACT Theatres in London's West End.

For Opera North, Lee directed a 90-minute Don Giovanni in Newcastle in 1999. In 2000 he assisted David McVicar in the Glyndebourne Touring Opera production of La bohème for which he also wrote the English-language surtitles seen on Channel 4 television on Christmas Day, later revised for performances by Scottish Opera in 2004. He devised and directed a site-specific production Damned and Divine at the Coliseum for the English National Opera Studio in 2000.

In 2001 he restaged Manon for Opera New Zealand, directed the world premiere production of Handel's Clori, Tirsi e Fileno in London's Heaven club for Covent Garden Festival and directed workshop performances at the Royal Scottish Academy where he directed Cavalli's La Calisto in 2002. That year began with a contemporary opera joint project for the English National Opera Studio and the National Opera Studio and he later revived Carmen for Glyndebourne Touring Opera. He directed Le nozze di Figaro for British Youth Opera at London's South Bank that autumn.

In 2003 he worked on Die Zauberflöte with David McVicar at the Royal Opera House (also revival director later in 2003) and revived Les contes d'Hoffmann in Antwerp and Manon for Houston Grand Opera.

Productions in 2004–2005 included Judith Weir's The Vanishing Bridegroom for Royal Scottish Academy and highly praised revivals of David McVicar's production of Faust at the Royal Opera House, Monte-Carlo, Lille and Trieste. He also revived Carmen for Glyndebourne Festival and again in Tenerife.

The 2005–2006 season started with Don Giovanni for the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia; The Merry Widow for de Vlaamse Opera in Ghent and Antwerp and the British premiere of Tobias Picker's Therese Raquin – the first project of Lee's new company Opera Theatre Europe – at the Linbury/Royal Opera House.

Also in 2006 he directed Die Fledermaus for Scottish Opera Go Round and The Turn of the Screw in Macedonia. He was associate director of Agrippina for the English National Opera.

In 2007 his new productions included Rusalka for Wexford Summer Festival and the highly acclaimed A Night at the Chinese Opera (Judith Weir) for Scottish Opera followed in 2008 – it was nominated for the 2008 TMA "Achievement in Opera" Award.

Productions in 2009 include A Love for Three Oranges at the Royal Scottish Academy, as well as revivals in Glyndebourne and Copenhagen. Engagements in 2010 included A Little Night Music (with Leslie Caron, Kristin Scott Thomas and Lambert Wilson) at the Théâtre du Châtelet and Madame Butterfly at Santa Fe Opera.

Lee Blakeley was awarded a 2007 Churchill Travelling Fellowship to study artist development and philanthropy in the United States.

Jenny Cane (lighting designer)

Jenny Cane was born in Sri Lanka and has designed for theater, opera, musical and dance productions in the West End, throughout Britain as well as in Europe, North America and Australia.

Her work in regional repertory theater in Britain is extensive and includes productions at Haymarket Leicester where she has lit over 30 productions, as well as shows for companies from Edinburgh to Plymouth.

Many of her productions have been seen in London's West End and she has worked for many major producers including Lord Lloyd-Webber and Cameron Mackintosh on musicals that have consequently toured in Britain and abroad. These include Café
Puccini, Requiem and Variations, Eurovision, and Follies, Nine and Sweeney Todd, at the Royal Festival Hall; drama productions in London include Welcome to Ramallah, (Arcola, 2008), Chapter II, The Aspern Papers, The Odd Couple and Three Tall Women.

Jenny Cane's special talent for music theater is reflected in her designs for many Sondheim productions including recently A Little Night Music at the Châtelet, Paris as well as major touring musicals such as Annie, Pirates of Penzance and Jolson in London, the provinces and abroad.

Her lighting designs for Eugene Onegin continue in repertoire at the English National Opera and she worked on many productions there including Der Rosenkavalier, Falstaff, Madame Butterfly, Peter Grimes and The Barber of Seville. She designed the lighting for The Magic Flute in Antwerp, and more recently Die Fledermaus for Scottish Opera, and Go Round and The Turn of the Screw in Macedonia. She returned to Scottish Opera in 2008 for the highly praised A Night at the Chinese Opera.

A further collaboration was with the African dance company Azido for whom she created the lighting of Silk and Footsteps of Africa in London and on tour.

David Daniels (Orfeo)

"To say that he is the most acclaimed countertenor of the day, perhaps the best ever, is to understate his achievement. He is simply a great singer." ─ The New York Times

David Daniels is known for his superlative artistry, magnetic stage presence and a voice of singular warmth and surpassing beauty, which have helped him redefine his voice category for the modern public. The American countertenor has appeared with the world's major opera companies and on its main concert and recital stages. He made history as the first countertenor to give a solo recital in the main auditorium of Carnegie Hall. The Chicago Tribune has called Daniels "today's gold standard among countertenors." Gramophone magazine acknowledged his contribution to recorded excellence as well as his expansion of the repertoire for his voice type by naming him one of the "Top Ten Trailblazers" in classical music today.

During the 2010–2011 season, David Daniels will return to the Metropolitan Opera in the title role in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, a production by choreographer Mark Morris, conducted by Antony Walker. He will also perform the same work in his debut at the Minnesota Opera, conducted by Harry Bicket. Mr. Daniels will make a highly anticipated return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago, returning first as Oberon in Britten's A
Midsummer Night's Dream conducted by Rory Macdonald and later in the season as Lichas in Peter Sellars new production of Handel's Hercules, conducted by Harry Bicket. In the summer of 2011, Mr. Daniels will return to the Santa Fe Opera for his role debut as Roberto in Vivaldi's Griselda, the work's first major U.S. production by Peter Sellars, conducted by Grant Gershon. Highlights of concert engagements include a San Francisco Bay Area tour of Vivaldi's Stabat mater and arias from Giulio Cesare with the Philharmonia Baroque, conducted by Nicholas McGegan as well as a Carnegie Hall concert with soprano Dorothea Röschmann.

Two highly anticipated European recital tours highlighted David Daniels's 2009–2010 season taking him to Frankfurt, Tampere, Finland, Paris, Belgrade, Berlin, London's Wigmore Hall, and the Prinzregententheater in Munich. He returned to Houston Grand Opera as Arsamene in Nicholas Hytner's renowned production of Handel's Serse opposite Susan Graham and made his debut with Atlanta Opera in the title role of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice conducted by long-time collaborator Harry Bicket. Concert engagements included a special tour of Handel's Messiah and Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the celebrated Canadian orchestra Les Violons du Roy conducted by Bernard Labadie in Montreal, Quebec City, New York City at Carnegie Hall, and Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall. Mr. Daniels collaborated again with Maestro Labadie later in the season in Bach's St. John Passion for his Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut.

Highly sought after for the works of Handel, Monteverdi, Gluck, Mozart and Britten, David Daniels has been featured on the great operatic stages of the world to overwhelming critical acclaim. Highlights of recent seasons include a reprisal of his portrayal of Bertarido in Handel's Rodelinda at the San Francisco Opera, which thrilled audiences at the Metropolitan Opera, his role debut as Orfeo in the Robert Carsen production at Lyric Opera of Chicago, which he reprised at the Metropolitan Opera and Covent Garden, his first performances in the title role of Handel's Orlando at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, and his portrayl as Didymus in Peter Sellars' renowned production of Theodora at the Glyndebourne Festival (available on DVD). Mr. Daniels has also performed opposite Plácido Domingo in the title role in Washington National Opera's production of Handel's Tamerlano, which he also sang at the Bayerische Staatsoper.

Further Handelian heroes include the title role in Giulio Cesare at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Glyndebourne Festival, Arsace in Partenope with Vienna's Theater an der Wien and Lyric Opera of Chicago, the title role in Radamisto with Santa Fe Opera, and David in Saul with the Bayerische Staatsoper. Other notable roles include Oberon in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, and Barcelona's Teatre del Liceu (available on DVD), Ottone in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea at Los Angeles Opera opposite Susan Graham, Nerone in the same opera at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and Farnace in Mozart's Mitridate at Covent Garden.

As much at home in recital as on the opera stage, David Daniels has won admiration for his performances of extensive concert and art song repertoire, including song literature of the 19th and 20th centuries not usually associated with his voice type. Following his Carnegie Hall recital debut in 2002, The New York Times reported, "There was a sense of occasion in the air, and he didn't disappoint. This was a compelling, even exhilarating recital, covering a wide range of bases in six distinctive sets." Daniels has given recitals at London's Wigmore Hall, New York's Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center; at Munich's Prinzregententheater and Vienna's Konzerthaus; in Barcelona's Teatre del Liceu; at the Edinburgh, Tanglewood and Ravinia Festivals; as well as in Ann Arbor, Atlanta (Spivey Hall), Chicago, Lisbon, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington. His French recital debut was a sold-out performance at the Salle Gaveau in Paris.

In concert, Mr. Daniels recently made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in Bach's B Minor Mass and has toured Europe with the Basel Chamber Orchestra and mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozená. Also in Europe, Daniels performed works by Bach and Vivaldi with Fabio Biondi and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. He has toured extensively with long-time collaborator Harry Bicket and The English Concert, performing in London, Toulouse, Vienna, Munich, Vancouver, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. He made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut under conductor Bernard Labadie, and has sung with the New York Philharmonic and St. Louis and Seattle Symphonies.

David Daniels has worked with many of the most notable conductors and stage directors of our day including James Levine, Sir Andrew Davis, Emanuelle Haïm, Christophe Rousset, Fabio Biondi, Robert Carsen, David McVicar, Pierre Audi and David Alden.

An exclusive Virgin Classics recording artist with several critically-acclaimed and best-selling solo albums to his credit, David Daniels's latest release was a collection of Bach's Sacred Arias and Cantatas conducted by Harry Bicket with The English Concert. He has also released a recording of Pergolesi's Stabat mater as well as solo works by the composer in a disc with soprano Dorothea Röschmann and conductor Fabio Biondi. Showing his diverse musical personality, another release featured Berlioz's song cycle Les nuits d'été, and also included songs by Ravel and Fauré. The New York Times wrote, "The term 'countertenor star' used to be an oxymoron, but David Daniels, for one, has made it a reality. There's no faulting his artistry. He has an unusually round, warm sound. He certainly knows his instrument."

Other recordings include A Quiet Thing (with guitarist Craig Ogden), and a recording of Handel's Rinaldo on the Decca label in which he sang the title role opposite Cecilia Bartoli, and which received a Gramophone Editor's Choice Album of the Year award in 2002. His debut disc was Handel: Opera Arias conducted by Sir Roger Norrington, followed by Sento Amor, with arias by Mozart, Gluck and Handel, and Serenade, a recital of songs by Beethoven, Gounod, Poulenc, Schubert and others with his frequent piano partner Martin Katz.

Honored by the music world for his unique achievements, David Daniels has been the recipient of two of classical music's most significant awards: Musical America's Vocalist of the Year for 1999 and the 1997 Richard Tucker Award.

Mr. Daniels was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the son of two singing teachers. He began to sing as a boy soprano, moving to tenor as his voice matured, and earned an undergraduate degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Dissatisfied with his achievements as a tenor, David Daniels made the daring switch to the countertenor range during graduate studies at the University of Michigan with George Shirley.

Adrian Linford (set and costume designer)

Adrian was born in Cambridgeshire, England, where he studied art at the Cambridge College of Art before training in theater design at Wimbledon School of Art in London.

Initial opera designs included Albert Herring at the Britten Aldeburgh Festival, which led to productions of Così fan tutte, Amahl and the Night Visitors and Nabucco for Opera West in Scotland.

He was a founding member of the Ragazzi Theatre Company, where he designed Lorca's When Five Years Pass (winning an Edinburgh Festival fringe first award that year), and designs for the The Inkwell, The Shoemaker's Wonderful Wife and Mario Benedetti's Peter and the Captain, all followed for the company in London. 

Other theater work has included Art, Blithe Spirit (both in Singapore), Betrayal, Family Voices, The Bay at Nice for Mercury Theatre (Colchester), a German touring version of Macbeth, The Glass Menagerie and Camino Real with Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and productions of Ionesco's The Bald Soprano and Genet's The Maids both for Stanford Meisner Theatre, New York.

His musical designs have included Peter Pan, Poppy, Grease and Hairspray (both series designed for  Sky TV, in the UK) and Stephen Sondheim's Assassins which he designed for Pimlico Opera, working with inmates of the UK prison system. He designed the world premiere of A Twist of Fate at the Raffles Hotel Theatre in Singapore, followed by They're Playing Our Song with Broadway star Lea Salonga which toured to Manila the following year.

Adrian has also designed Orlando for Cambridge Handel Opera, Il Seraglio for English Touring Opera, Così fan tutte  for Grange Park Opera, Katya Kabanova for Scottish Opera and The Marriage of Figaro for Opera Theatre Company in Ireland. Adrian's work as an associate, has seen him work with the leading companies in the UK, Europe and Australia, notable was his work for Maria Bjornsøn where he finalized her designs for Les Troyens (Metropolitan Opera, New York) and The Little Prince (Houston Grand Opera) and the co-design of Il trovatore at the Bastile Opera in Paris, all directed by Francesca Zambello.

Adrian's work with the director Lee Blakeley began with their production of Judith Weir's The Vanishing Bridegroom at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, subsequently The Turn of the Screw at The Macedonian Opera, and their acclaimed production of Die Flederamus for Scottish Opera before beginning Orpheus and Eurydice for Minnesota Opera.

Angela Mortellaro (Amore)

Soprano Angela Mortellaro joins the Minnesota Opera's Resident Artist program in 2010–2011, singing the roles of Amore in Orpheus and Eurydice, Clorinda in Cinderella and Annina in La traviata and the Offstage Voice in Wuthering Heights. This year, Ms. Mortellaro has sung the role of Gretel in Hansel and Gretel with both PORTOpera and Sarasota Opera. Last summer, she was a Chautauqua Opera Apprentice Artist, performing the roles of Edith in The Pirates of Penzance and Anna Gomez in The Consul. For Orlando Opera Company, she sang Sister Genovieffa in Suor Angelica, Sally in Die Fledermaus and Clorinda in La Cenerentola. The soprano also appeared as Clorinda for Aspen Opera Theatre as well as Frasquita in its production of Carmen. Internationally, she has performed Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro for Operafestival di Roma.

Ms. Mortellaro has a master of music degree in vocal performance from Rice University (Houston, Texas), where she sang Diana in La Calisto, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Sandrina in La finta giardiniera and the Governess in The Turn of the Screw. She completed her bachelor of music degree at the University of Wisconsin (Whitewater).

Susanna Phillips (Euridice)

Alabama native Susanna Phillips has attracted special recognition for a voice of striking beauty and sophistication. Recipient of the Metropolitan Opera's 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award, she appears at the Met this season as Pamina in Julie Taymor's celebrated production of The Magic Flute, and as Musetta in La bohème, the role with which she made her debut in 2008. She also portrays Musetta on the Met's Japan tour in June in a cast that includes Anna Netrebko and Joseph Calleja. This past summer she was a featured artist in the Met's Summer Recital Series in Central Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park, and a resident artist at the Marlboro Music Festival.
 
Susanna Phillips begins her 2010–2011 season as Euridice in Minnesota Opera's Orfeo ed Euridice with David Daniels, under Harry Bicket, before her Metropolitan Opera engagements. Additionally in opera she performs her first staged Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Birmingham, and sings Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream with Boston Lyric Opera. Concert highlights include the Marilyn Horne Foundation gala at Carnegie Hall, Jeptha with New York's celebrated Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Santa Barbara Symphony, and solo recitals in Chicago, IL, Huntsville, AL, and Jackson, MS.
 
Last season, Susanna Phillips returned to the Met as Pamina with conductor Bernard Labadie. Following her Baltimore Symphony debut under Marin Alsop, the Baltimore Sun proclaimed, "She's the real deal." Susanna Phillips also appeared with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Adina in L'elisir d'amore, and with Opera Birmingham as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro. In May, she garnered rave reviews for her debut at the Fort Worth Opera Festival as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni.
 
In the banner year of 2005, Susanna Phillips was the winner of four of the world's leading vocal competitions – Operalia (both first place and the audience prize), the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the MacAllister Awards and the
George London Foundation. She completed the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2007.
 
Since making her Santa Fe Opera debut as Pamina in the summer of 2006, Susanna Phillips has returned to Santa Fe in a trio of Mozart operas: as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. Recent seasons have brought significant operatic debuts, including Mozart's Countess with the Dallas Opera, Donna Anna with Boston Lyric Opera and her first Violetta with Opera Birmingham. She performed the notoriously difficult role of Elmira – to great acclaim – in a Tim Albery production of Reinhard Keiser's The Fortunes of King Croesus in her debut with Minnesota Opera conducted by Harry Bicket. As a participant in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Ryan Opera Center, she sang Diana in a new Robert Carsen production of Iphigénie en Tauride opposite Susan Graham, Juliette in Roméo et Juliette and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. She has sung leading roles at Madison Opera and Utah Opera and Blanche de la Force in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites at Kentucky Opera.
 
In recital, Susanna Phillips has appeared at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC under the auspices of the Vocal Arts Society, and at Carnegie Hall with the Marilyn Horne Foundation in New York. An alumnus of The Juilliard School, she made her New York solo recital debut at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall as recipient of the Alice Tully Vocal Arts Debut Recital Award last November.
 
Her continually expanding concert repertoire has been showcased with many different prestigious organizations. She has performed with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic as part of their annual "Composer's Festival" under Alan Gilbert, Mozart's Mass in C Minor with the Chicago Symphony, and Beethoven's Mass in C and Choral Fantasy for her Mostly Mozart Festival debut at Lincoln Center and at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York under Kent Tritle. She has also sung Dvorak's Stabat mater with the Santa Fe Symphony, Brahms' Deutsches Requiem with the Santa Barbara Symphony, and appeared opposite baritone Wolfgang Holzmair in Wolf's Spanisches Liederbuch at New York's Weill Recital Hall. Other recent concert and oratorio engagements include Carmina burana, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Mahler's Symphony No. 4, Mozart's Coronation Mass, the Fauré and Mozart Requiems, and Handel's Messiah. She made her Carnegie Hall debut with Skitch Henderson and Rob Fisher with the New York Pops.
 
Susanna Phillips is a winner of the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition, and was awarded grants from the Santa Fe Opera and the Sullivan Foundation. Additionally, she was the first prize winner of the American Opera Society Competition and the
Musicians Club of Women in Chicago.
 
Raised in Huntsville, Susanna Phillips is grateful for the ongoing support of her
community in her career. She sang Strauss' Vier Letzte Lieder, Carmina burana, Mozart's Mass in C Minor, and her first performances of the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor in a concert version with the Huntsville Symphony. She returns frequently to her native state for recitals and orchestral appearances. Susanna teamed up with bassoonist Matthew McDonald to start Twickenham Fest, a summer chamber music festival in Huntsville, Alabama.

Arthur Pita (choreographer)

Arthur Pita is Portuguese, but was born in South Africa and studied dance in Johannesburg. He came to London in 1991 where he trained at London Contemporary Dance School, gaining a masters degree. He was a member of Adventures in Motion Pictures from 1997–2003 and performed principal and featured roles. Arthur Pita's choreographic work includes works for Johannesburg's Dance Umbrella, Resolution! and Spring Loaded at The Place, Mappa Mundi for the Royal National Theatre, Caledonian Road for the Almeida Theatre, La bohème and Show Boat, both directed by Francesca Zambello at The Royal Albert Hall, Idomeneo with Plácido Domingo for Los Angeles Opera, Frankenstein for Derby Playhouse, La forza del destino for the Lithuanian State Opera, Israeli Opera Tel Aviv, The Gambler for Opera Zuid, Carmen for The Royal Opera House and Der Norske Opera, West Side Story for Municipal Festival of Larnaca/Cyprus, Street Scene (Evening Standard Award Best Musical) for The Opera Group, Young Vic and The Winter's Tale for Royal Shakespeare Company. Commissions include Snow White in Black (National Dance Award Modern Repertoire) for Phoenix Dance Theater, performed at Sadler's Wells, And Then Gone for Bare Bones performed at the Linbury ROH, and The Stepfather for CandoCo Dance Company, Mischief (TMA Award Achievement in Dance), a collaboration with Theatre Rites commissioned by Sadler's Wells and Dance Touring Partnership and Dancing in the Dark for Images of Dance.

Arthur was an Associate Artist at The Place from 2002–2004 and it was there in 2003 that he launched Open Heart Productions with the double bill Boomshe Sheboom and Bugger, A Fairy Tale. He also premiered his first full length work Camp which then later ran for three weeks at The Place followed by a UK tour.

Christoph Willibald Gluck

b Erasbach, Upper Palatinate, July 2, 1714; d Vienna, November 15, 1787

Christoph Willibald Gluck was a radical reformist whose contributions paved the way for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Like many of his 18th-century contemporaries, little is known about his childhood. Born to a forester, Gluck made the break from country life in his early teens, escaping to Prague, and appears to have been largely self-taught as a musician. In the employ of Prince Lobkowitz, he made his way to Vienna and fell under the influence of court composers Johann Joseph Fux and Antonio Caldera. A trip to Milan cemented the Italian influence in his music, yielding his first opera Artaserse in 1741, with Demetrio (1742) and Demofoonte (1743) to follow. A journey to London in 1745 put him in touch with George Frideric Handel, later to become a hero and role model.

For six years Gluck continued to exist as a wandering musician. He married the well-connected Maria Anna Bergin, who would be his faithful companion to the end of his life. He went into the service of the Prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen and one of his compositions, Le nozze d'Ercole e d'Ebe, attracted the attention of visiting Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, Austrian ambassador to the Saxon court. As a result, Gluck was commissioned to write La Semiramide riconosciuta for the reopening of the Burgtheater in 1748, an event that cemented the tenuous reign of Archduchess Maria Theresa, Austria's first and only female Hapsburg ruler. As her husband Francis I was from Lorraine, a French theatrical troupe was at residence in the imperial city, and Gluck was further engaged to write seven opéra comiques (as the more expensive Italian opera seria had been suspended due to the Seven Years War), his most famous to become La rencontre imprévue (1764). The composer was also hired to write ballets for Viennese theaters, the most important being Le festin de pierre, ou Don Juan. The arrival of Italian expatriate Ranieri de' Calzabigi from Paris brought a further influx of the French style, but his most significant contribution was his collaboration as Gluck's librettist for Orfeo ed Euridice (1762), Alceste (1767) and Paride ed Elena (1770), a trio of works heralding the "reform" for which these artists would soon be known.

Gluck began to study the operas of Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau in earnest. Upon a suggestion by the French ambassador in Vienna, he embarked on his first tragédie lyrique for the French stage, Iphigénie en Aulide. Gluck had a powerful ally in Paris, his former singing student, Dauphine Marie-Antoinette (the daughter of Maria Theresa and ill-fated future queen of France). Preparing for the boldness of Gluck's new style, the Académie Royale de Musique requested that he prepare five new works, as they feared the popularity of Iphigénie would drive all other operas from the stage.

Their fears were well founded – Iphigénie en Aulide was a tremendous success, though its run was cut short with the death of King Louis XV and the closing of all theaters for a period of mourning. During that time, Gluck had a chance to revise his Orfeo ed Euridice in the French style. When it premiered in 1774, the opera was received with great enthusiasm and the new queen awarded him a generous pension. Gluck returned to Vienna, but still kept his eye on Paris.

In due course, Gluck found he had a rival composer in the French capital, Niccolò Piccinni, and soon two factions evolved into "Gluckistes" and "Piccinnistes." Gluck quickly produced Armide to defend his new style, angering both the French traditionalists and supporters of the modern Italian style, who had chosen Piccinni as their champion (even though he had yet to produce his first work for Paris). At the height of this Querelle des Bouffons (Battle of the Jesters), the Académie went as far as to commission each composer to write an opera on the same subject. Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride was the first to be presented in 1779, with Piccinni's version appearing two years later.

Gluck unfortunately experienced a series of strokes and ceased composing major works. Feted by his fellow Viennese, he retired to living in a gluttonous style. Gluck's music had long become a staple of the Hapsburg court, and in 1781, his career was celebrated during a state visit by the Russian Tsar and Tsarina (delaying the premiere of Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio, though the younger composer still held him in high regard). Four of his works were mounted by the Burgtheater – Orfeo, Alceste, Iphigenie auf Tauris (the Vienna premiere in German) and La rencontre imprévue. Settling into the comfort of old age and venerated by composers and royalty alike, Gluck would die six years later, drinking alcohol in defiance of his doctor's orders, thereby succumbing to his final apoplectic stroke.

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Director's Notes

     – Lee Blakeley

        When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.
        – Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband

Nowhere in art is this truer than in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, the task laid before Orfeo is nothing short of cruel. This has become one of the central premises of this production.

Finding a world in which the gods can play out their sport was the first challenge before the production team. Coupled with the finding of a physical way to represent grief, for which the choices are endless and often lead to abstraction, in this production we wanted to create a world which was unambiguous; a place in which the three acts of mourning, quest and escape could happen; a place a modern audience could recognize but also one which would be pertinent to Orfeo and his sense of self and identity.

In this production of Orfeo ed Euridice, theater itself becomes the metaphor for Orfeo's journey into and out of the underworld. In setting the whole show in a Baroque theater we see the world through Orfeo's eyes, the eyes of an artist, musician and poet. The masks of comedy and tragedy have fallen to the ground. It is as though the theater itself has been drained of life, and Amore's quest sends him on a journey into the heart of this now dead theater. We travel with him through the dark recesses of the back stage areas up into the full glaring light of the stage for the final act.

The choreography is visceral and explosive in parts, sensual in others. Above all, the choreography must serve the narrative. By retaining the often cut final ballet, we take our first opportunity to view the entire story from a perspective different to Orfeo's own.

The Orfeo myth has been reinvented and retold through the generations across cultures and in many different media. One such retelling of the myth has become our focus for the ballet.

Recommended Reading

Bruce Alan Brown

Gluck and the French Theatre in Vienna.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.

Patricia Howard

C. W. von Gluck: Orfeo (Cambridge Opera Handbooks)
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Patricia Howard

Gluck and the Birth of Modern Opera.
London: Barrie and Rockliff, 1963.

Patricia Howard

Gluck – An Eighteenth-Century Portrait in Letters and Documents.
Oxford: Claredon Press, 1995.

Recommended Listening

Decca

McNair, Ragin, Sieden
Gardiner; English Baroque Soloists

Harmonia Mundi

Fink, Cangemi, Kiehr
Jacobs; Freiburger Barockorchester and the RIAS-Kammerchor

Naxos

Biel, Boog, Avemo
Östman; Drottningholm Theatre Chorus and Orchestra

Decca

Horne, Lorengar, Donath
Sorlti; Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra

To Learn More …

A class devoted to Orpheus and Eurydice will be held on Monday, September 20, 2010, from 7:00–9:00 p.m. at the Minnesota Opera Center. The discussion will be led by Kelley Harness from the University of Minnesota.