Glyndebourne stages its first ever L’Orfeo, centred on music and art

“L’Orfeo is an opera about opera. It’s an opera about the power of music. It’s about the power of art to construct the world,” says director William Kentridge, whose staging marks the first time Glyndebourne has presented Monteverdi’s 1607 work. Monteverdi called the piece a “favola in musica” and it remains the earliest opera still performed today.

Kentridge’s production places La Musica at the centre, imagining her as an artist in a studio who conjures the action into being. The set blends a Bauhaus studio with elements from Kentridge’s own Johannesburg workspace, shipped to England, while his charcoal drawings and projections transform the stage into trees, landscapes and the underworld.

Francesca Aspromonte sings La Musica and also appears as Eurydice in the production. Conductor Jonathan Cohen highlights the piece’s dramatic reach: La Musica’s prologue claims music’s power to move nature, and Orfeo’s song can affect rocks, trees and human feeling.

England, Johannesburg

glyndebourne, l'orfeo, monteverdi, william kentridge, la musica, francesca aspromonte, jonathan cohen, bauhaus, johannesburg, charcoal drawings