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Edinburgh Reporter
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Edinburgh Reporter
Orpheus and Eurydice at Edinburgh Playhouse ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Despite the richness of the English language, I think there are not enough superlatives to praise the creation of this rendition of Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice. From the very opening where we see the superb funambulist as Eurydice descend twisting into the underworld hanging from a harness to the final dénouement, the staging was outstanding, the music perfection, the singing immensely moving, and the acrobatics stunning. The set was minimalist but of a beautiful monochrome setting off the red of Eurydice's dress with the surtitles projected onto the back often marvellously smoking and dissolving as the Italian was sung. The conductor, Laurence Cummings, was masterful in his control of the wonderful Scottish Chamber Orchestra, whilst the singing of not only Iestyn Davies as Orpheus and Samantha Clarke as both Eurydice & Amor but also that of the chorus from Scottish Opera was flawless. This production by Opera Queensland employing the astounding skills and beauty of the Australian contemporary circus company, Circa demanded a standing ovation, something I do not engage in lightly.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Gluck's famous opera with acrobats? It's surprisingly bloodless
A female aerial artist wearing a striking red dress tumbles down from the ceiling on a rope, symbolising the descent of the ill-fated Eurydice into the underworld. This is how Yaron Lifschitz's modern staging of Gluck's popular 1762 opera Orpheus and Eurydice begins. The show's concept, combining opera with circus, is an intriguing one, but this production from Opera Queensland – with acrobats from the Brisbane-based Circa company – feels misconceived and oddly clinical. The subterranean afterlife into which Eurydice has fallen – having been killed by a snakebite – is visualised by Lifschitz (who also designs) as a place of almost antiseptic, white minimalism. When we meet her bereft lover Orpheus – who follows her into the underworld in an attempt to persuade Hades, king of the dead, to restore his beloved to life – he is seemingly in an asylum, resting on a white table-cum-bed. It looks like something Jasper Conran might have designed for a rehab centre for Hollywood A-listers. As the fine British countertenor Iestyn Davies (playing Orpheus in a white shirt and black business suit) begins to sing of his anguish, his words appear and evaporate in smoke on the wall behind him. It isn't long before Eurydice (sung beautifully by Australian/British soprano Samantha Clarke) is appearing inside a small greenhouse (which, one assumes, is supposed to be a symbol of confinement). As the opera unfolds, Gluck's splendid late-Baroque score and Ranieri de' Calzabigi's libretto are accompanied by a small army of gymnastic artists from Brisbane company Circa. When the chorus of Scottish Opera arrive they are clad in black boiler suits. The difficulty with all of this – from the circus performance to the modish graphics and consciously fashionable design – is that it fails to make the necessary emotional connection either with Gluck's opera or the ancient myth upon which it is based. The greenhouse, in particular, reminds one of the period in the 1990s and early-2000s when every other trendy live art show – usually by students or graduates of Dartington College of Arts – seemed to feature a small glasshouse. The great frustration of the production, which premiered in Brisbane in 2019, is that the tremendous capacities of the performers – from the lead singers, the chorus and the excellent Scottish Chamber Orchestra (under the baton of Laurence Cummings) to the circus artists – are never in doubt. However, as Circa's performers slide on silks in mid-air or turn themselves into a human staircase for Orpheus to climb, the music seems almost to be at the service of the circus work, much as Ravel's Bolero served the British ice skaters Torvill and Dean in the 1980s. When, at the end, Davies's Orpheus writes the words 'The triumph of love' in blood on the wall, it seems like a moment of self-parody, so anodyne and bloodless is Lifschitz's production. Truth to tell, the piece was cheered to the rafters by sections of the audience. Had we been in Vienna in 1913 (the year of Schoenberg's famous 'scandal concert'), I suspect booing might have ensued from those who were unimpressed. Alas, Edinburgh International Festival audiences are not given to such expressions of discontent. Until Aug 16;
Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Orpheus and Eurydice review — Gluck gets the circus treatment
Christoph Willibald Gluck was the 18th-century German composer who wanted to strip opera of show-off vocal virtuosity and convoluted plot twists and instead present unvarnished themes — love, loss, death — in unvarnished music. With Orpheus and Eurydice he achieved that goal with a concise, noble and austere masterpiece of an opera. So it's jolting, to put it mildly, to have that pared-down sensibility harnessed in Yaron Lifschitz's Playhouse staging (brought to the Edinburgh International Festival by Opera Queensland) to something so different in mood and aesthetic that at first you can hardly believe your eyes. While the two protagonists — the indestructible countertenor Iestyn Davies and the peachy-toned soprano Samantha Clarke — deliver Gluck's music in fine style, aided by the excellent Scottish Opera Chorus and Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Laurence Cummings's direction, 11 acrobats from the Brisbane-based Circa company tumble and twist around them, forming a kind of gymnastic commentary on the story. The acrobats from Circa in action JESS SHURTE At least, that's what they sometimes do. It's easy to spot the visual metaphors when, for instance, during the overture a woman acrobat does a long, twisty plunge down a suspended rope, clearly evoking Eurydice's descent to the underworld. Or to feel the physical power of the scene where Orpheus, following her to Hell, is taunted by figures dashing around him like demented animals. Or indeed to be impressed by the counterintuitive finale, where Gluck's happy ending is undercut by a literally bloody coup de théâtre. Elsewhere, however, it's more difficult to relate the acrobats' frenetic activities — cartwheeling, leapfrogging, contorting and forming ever more improbable human pyramids — either to the story or the music's generally sombre mood. Nor could I fathom why Eurydice was briefly transformed into a vampy cabaret singer, or why some of the action took place in a garden greenhouse. Did that matter, though? The audience in the packed Playhouse continually gasped at the heart-in-mouth daring of the acrobats and gave the show a standing ovation. So at least Gluck got his biggest cheer for centuries. ★★★☆☆ 80min Edinburgh Playhouse, to Aug 16,
ABC News
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Opera Queensland's country and opera performance finds success in the outback
There are two genres of music people love to hate — opera and country. Under a kaleidoscope of stars in outback Queensland the two styles have merged and found a surprising audience. "Slim Dusty and Puccini, who would have thought," Melbourne opera fanatic Rosey Boyd said. Country songs are said to be made up of "loving, drinking, fighting and cussing" — similarly inspired themes that feature in opera, according to Opera Queensland. It is a hypothesis that Opera Queensland's Laura Hansford has transformed into the nationally touring country-opera production Are You Lonesome Tonight. Opera is not the typical genre of choice in rural communities, but the Festival of Outback Opera has been running for five years in western Queensland, bringing an influx of tourists from across Australia. It is a welcome boost for the local communities of Longreach and Winton where destructive flooding in parts of the outback earlier this year led to mass cancellations at the start of the tourist season. "We were actually very pleased that we were able to come and support the community given that they've had really hard times," said Brisbane attendee Elizabeth Wray. Laura Hansford recalled her initial apprehension four years ago when she was tasked with the challenge of creating a show that somehow combined John Williamson, Verdi, Slim Dusty and Puccini. "I said 'that's crazy' and then I went away and thought 'that's actually really cool and interesting,'" she said. It turns out that after "ruining" her Spotify algorithm researching the two genres, they unexpectedly had a lot in common. "One of the big things is the brilliance in storytelling," she said. She said the show had found success particularly with regional Queensland audiences, which led to Opera Queensland taking the show nationally this year. "Whether you're an opera fan, whether you are a country fan, whether you're a Taylor Swift fan, there is something in this show for everybody — and that's what connects us all," she said. Singer Gabrielle Diaz never thought she would end up in a production like this after studying classical voice at Brisbane's Conservatorium of Music. She loved the exploration of the two styles, switching effortlessly from American twang to the full vowels of an operatic aria. With grey nomad tourist numbers on the decline, a different niche of silver-haired travellers is boosting visitor numbers in western Queensland. Retirees, often from Melbourne or Sydney, make up the majority of the crowd at the Festival of the Outback Opera. Rosey Boyd and her crew are on a three-month road trip and were crunched for time to get to the show in Longreach. "We broke down two hours out of Melbourne, but we didn't let that stop us," Ms Boyd said. "We love the opera. We go as often as we can afford in Melbourne." Wrapped in a fur coat, Margaret Morgan flew from Brisbane just to experience the outback. "It's one of those things you have to be here to feel." Opera Queensland chief executive Patrick Nolan said the vast outback made for a perfect stage. "There's a clarity you get acoustically, once the sun sets, something happens in this environment which really lifts the singers' voices in a way," he said. As for the outback residents themselves? Opera has won over more than a few fans. "It's actually enjoyable. I don't usually like opera but from this I do. It tells a story," said Longreach country music enthusiast Kelsey Silburn.
