The Tale of Orpheus, by Claudio Monteverdi, 1607

From the team that brought you ‘Passion, Lament, Glory’, this new production of The Tale of Orpheus reimagines Claudio Monteverdi’s baroque masterpiece L’Orfeo — arguably the first “true” opera — for the 21st century.

With David Greco in the role of Orpheus, musical direction by Erin Helyard, artistic direction by Jane Davidson and design by Matthew Adey, the production celebrates the 450th anniversary of this great composer’s birth with two stunning performances at North Melbourne’s atmospheric Meat Market theatre. Using exotic and beautifully crafted period instruments, the baroque orchestra will also play a central role in the story-telling process.

Known to his contemporaries as an “oracolo della musica”, Monteverdi was a musical visionary, whose talent for communicating raw emotion ensures the opera’s enduring appeal today. This production explores the work’s creative potential even further, in a modern re-telling of one of the most influential and beloved stories in operatic history.

Produced by the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music at The University of Melbourne in association with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions.