Tragédie opéra in three acts
Libretto by Pierre Louis Moline after Ranieri de’ Calzabigi’s Italian libretto
First performance of French Edition: Paris, Académie Royale de Musique, August 2, 1774
Sung in French with English supertitles above the stage

Driven by love and wracked with grief and uncertainty, Orphée descends into the underworld on a heroic mission to return his beloved to the land of the living. His passionate music wins their freedom, but the true test has just begun. Based on the Greek myth of Orpheus, this vivid, theatrical production promises a visual spectacular as it takes us on a quest through a series of worlds ranging from the sinister to the pastoral. Focusing on simple, dramatic effect, Gluck’s beautiful music gives a unique glimpse of an approach that changed the nature of opera when it was first seen 250 years ago. From one moment full of fury, the next clear and pure, this music is full of emotion. Orphée et Eurydice will become the earliest composition we have ever performed and mark the Company’s first foray into ‘early music’.