Music and translation by Stephen Oliver (after Jacopo Peri).
Conducted by Christopher Moulds.
Semi-staged production directed by Stuart Barker 8 & 11 September 2010.
Based on the Orpheus myth that so fascinated renaissance artists, the version of Euridice written for a Medici wedding in 1600 by Jacopo Peri – the first ever opera composer – provides translucent vocal writing around which Stephen Oliver weaves an entirely 20th-century accompaniment. This new production marks the 60th anniversary of Stephen Oliver’s birth; Euridice was first performed in 1981, eleven years before his death in 1992. With a cast of 16 singers and an onstage ensemble of 8 players, it is an enthralling piece of theatre combining old with new, and ideally suited to a cast of young singers.