Glyndebourne Stages First-Ever L'Orfeo by Monteverdi

The Lead

Glyndebourne has staged its first-ever production of Claudio Monteverdi's 1607 opera L'Orfeo, directed by William Kentridge. The opera is about the power of music and art to construct the world.

Kentridge's Vision for L'Orfeo

Monteverdi called his work – composed for performance at the ducal court of Mantua, a “favola in musica – legend in music”. “Monteverdi was a genius,” says conductor Jonathan Cohen. “The piece is about the world’s most famous musician. He begins with a prologue where he has the allegorical character of La Musica [Music, here sung by Francesca Aspromonte, who also sings Eurydice in this production], who says ‘I am music, and I have the power to stop the birds singing, the power over nature.’ And of course Orfeo, the musician, has the power to control even the rocks, the trees, the animals and effect human emotions.”

The Power of La Musica

Kentridge’s staging centres on the creative figure of La Musica. “La Musica leads the prologue, and, as it were, conjures the whole opera into being. The production proposes the idea of la Musica as the power of art, she is in the guise of an artist in their studio, who paints the sets, paints the thoughts as they are happening. The visual language of both the scenography, an artist studio, but also the images in the projections are part of what the artist is drawing. The trees, the landscape, the underworld, which I’ve done largely as charcoal drawings, either in a notebook or on larger sheets of paper.”

The Artistic Vision

Rather than a lyre Orpheus has the notebook of the poet. All his songs come from the book he holds, as if his instrument.

The Production

The artist’s studio set is a mixture of a Bauhaus studio with elements that are in Kentridge’s own studio in Johannesburg – and were shipped over from South Africa. Video projections – all drawn by him – transform the stage into many different spaces.