Christoph Willibald Gluck: ORFEUS AND EURIDICE

Premiere: September 2023
Hungarian State Opera House
Eiffel Hall

Carol Ann Duffy: Eurydice excerpt

He was told,
not to turn around or look back
Just walk upwards and upwards
And I behind him
Out of the underworld and into the light,
Where my past waits, the air above.
They also told him
A glance is enough,
and lose me forever.
Had to go, had to go
No one said a word.
Girls, forget the books.
I'll tell you how it fell.
I've done all I can do
To get him to turn around
What should I do to tell him..,
to make him understand that it's over between us.
I'm dead. I'm gone.
I rest in peace. I was happy. I was dead.
I was expired...
Once I reached out my hand,
to touch his neckand said to him,
Let me stay.

/translated by András Kappanyos/

Orpheus is a singer and a poet, and his art is a breeding ground for grief. He has lost Eurydice, and he does not want to let her go - but perhaps not to get her back either. He defies the passing of time because he needs her - not so much for her as for himselfthe passing itself - especially so that he can sing of it. Hubris and narcissism or infinite endurance and impermanencelove? From what is born the higher work of art?Man has mastered nature in so many ways. He cuts down and plants forests, breaks down mountains, builds damsand build airplanes. We can control birth. But can we conquer death? One person's own heaven can be another person's hell.

/excerpt from the concept/

Creators
Visuals by Zoltán Gelsi and Csenge Vass
Dramaturg: Bence Bíró
Libretto re-translated by Péter Závada
Choreographer: Patrik Kelemen
Video by András Juhász and Máté Bredán
Director: Zita Szenteczki
Director's assistant: Katalin Marton Kovács

Performed by:
Orpheus: Rodrigo Sosa Dal Pozzo
Euridice: Rita Rácz
Cupid: Eszter Zemlényi