David Daniels stars in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, Opens April 29

Countertenor David Daniels will sing the role of Orfeo in a revival of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, opening April 29 at the Met. Kate Royal will make her Met debut as Orfeo's lost love, Euridice, while Lisette Oropesa will add to her growing Met repertoire with her role debut as Amore. AnTony Walker, music director of Pittsburgh Opera and Washington Concert Opera, will make his Met debut conducting the opera. Mark Morris's 2007 production of the opera features extensive choreography by the dance legend, including the famous "Dance of the Blessed Spirits."

Daniels is the only male singer in Met history to have sung the role of Orfeo, which is traditionally sung by mezzo-sopranos. He first sang the role at the Met in the new production premiere of Morris's staging, in which a gallery of famous figures from history observe Orfeo's journey to the underworld to rescue his dead bride. Royal, an avid recitalist with three solo albums on the EMI Classics label, is an emerging opera star in the United Kingdom, where her recent performances have included Pamina and Anne Trulove at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and Donna Elvira and Micaëla at Glyndebourne. Oropesa, most recently heard at the Met as the Rhinemaiden Woglinde in the new production premiere of Das Rheingold, will sing her first-ever performances of the capricious Amore. In addition to conducting standard repertory works with the Pittsburgh and Washington Concert operas, conductor Walker has a particular affinity for Baroque and 18th-century repertory. In summer 2010, he conducted the Australian premiere of Haydn's version of the Orpheus story, L'Anima del Filosofo, with the Pinchgut Opera, where he is co-artistic director.
Morris's production features set design by Allen Moyer, costumes by Isaac Mizrahi, and lighting by James F. Ingalls.

Live Broadcasts Around the World
Orfeo ed Euridice will be experienced by millions of people around the world this season on the radio and on the internet, through distribution platforms the Met has established with various media partners.
The May 4 performance will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM 74 (the Met's new channel number, beginning April 20), and will also be available via internet streaming at the Met's web site www.metopera.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.