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 London's Royal Opera House, in conjunction with the theater
and pop music venue the Roundhouse, conjured up a magical
presentation of the world's first opera on Tuesday about
Orpheus's trip to the underworld to rescue his dead bride.
"It's modern both musically and in the staging, too," Orendt,
29, said following his jaw-dropping performance in the finale
where he sings for five minutes while held aloft in a sling that
is meant to be raising him to the heavens.
"I find it quite relaxing to find a new position where singing
can still function," he said, adding that with one false move "I
could break my neck, it's as easy as that".
The production is part of the Royal Opera's push to bring opera
to new audiences in new venues.
As part of that push, last year's hugely popular production of
Francesco Cavalli's "L'Ormindo" in the candle-lit Sam Wanamaker
Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe is being revived in February.
"I think for certain pieces there are other spaces that are just
better" than the opera house, the ROH's music director Antonio
Pappano said. "If we can at the same time conjure up a new
audience or a different audience, that's all the better."
There is common DNA to "L'Ormindo" and "Orfeo" in the presence
of the Orchestra of the Early Opera Company. The ensemble,
conducted by Christopher Moulds, fills the cavernous Roundhouse
- where the sound has been discreetly amplified - with the
lilting sounds of lutes, an organ-like "regal", a harp, brass
players, recorders, sackbuts, two harpsichords and other period
instruments.
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The young singers are energetic, with Orendt, whose trilling
coloratura is effective whether on stage or above it, a standout.
British soprano Mary Bevan was a convincing Euridice while British
bass James Platt as Charon sturdily barred Orpheus's way into Hades
to rescue her - until ordered to let him in by British bass-baritone
Callum Thorpe.
The messenger who gives Orpheus the bad news that Euridice had died
of a snake bite was sung with authority by British opera veteran
Susan Bickley.
Michael Boyd directed, with stage design by Tom Piper. Nine singers
from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama formed the chorus while
the waves of the River Styx and the gates of Hades were inventively
conjured up as human building blocks by young dancers from East
London Dance.
(Michael Roddy is the arts and entertainment editor for Reuters in
Europe. The views expressed are his own.)
(Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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