Orphée et Eurydice

About

The Glimmerglass Festival 2007 staging of Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice (Berlioz edition) was directed by Lillian Groag with Julian Wachner conducting. Scenic design by John Conklin, costumes by Constance Hoffman, lighting by Robert Wierzel, and choreography by Nicola Brown shaped a clear, classically inflected world. Flexible sets and period-inspired costumes supported fluid transitions between the earthly realm, the torments of Tartarus, and the serenity of the Elysian fields. Direction emphasized narrative clarity and expressive movement, while choreographic sequences provided visual motifs for the opera’s mythic elements. Musically, the orchestral and vocal color of the Berlioz edition highlighted Romantic sonorities without compromising Gluck’s dramatic purity, yielding a production that balanced ritual, poetry, and human feeling.