Orfeo

The renowned director Chen Shi-Zheng, who staged Handel and Haydn Society’s acclaimed presentations of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 (2003) and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (2005), returns to open the Society’s 2006-2007 season with fully staged performances of Claudio Monteverdi’s opera Orfeo. A co-production of the Handel and Haydn Society and the English National Opera, Orfeo is led by British conductor Laurence Cummings, who collaborated with Chen to mount the world premiere last April in London. The Boston production features the Handel and Haydn Chorus and Period-Instrument Orchestra and an international cast, including 11 Indonesian dancers from Java. First performed in 1607 and considered the first “true” opera, Orfeo tells the tragic Greek myth of a musician who uses his formidable musical powers to wrest his beloved Euridice from the depths of hell.