Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra by Andrew Miller
L’Orfeo, Favola in musica
Music by Claudio Monteverdi
Libretto by Alessandro Striggio
City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney: 19 September 2012
Australian Brandenburg Orchestra on period instruments
Paul Dyer – Artistic Director, conductor, harpsichord and organ
Brendan Ross – staging
Justin Nardella – styling and costumes
Markus Brutscher – Orfeo
Sara Macliver – Eurydice and La Musica
Fiona Campbell – La Messaggiera and Proserpina
Wolf Matthias Friedrich – Caronte and Plutone
Ninfa – Siobhan Stagg
Apollo – Morgan Pearse
Eco – Robert Macfarlane
Choro di Pastori – Robert Macfarlane, Richard Butler, Tobias Cole, Morgan Pearse
Choro di Ninfe – Sarah Ampel, Anna Sandström, Paul Sutton, Nick Gilbert, Richard Butler
La Speranza – Tobias Cole
Choro di Spiriti Infernali – Paul Sutton, Nick Gilbert, Tobias cole, Richard Butler, Morgan Pearse
L’Orfeo is a performer’s piece. Composed at a time when the composition of music meant something quite different to what it does now, or in the 19th Century, though certain aleatory pieces of the 20th Century left very much of the act of creation to the performer these do seem to be considered somewhat freakish by many — to many programmers of concerts and some in audiences in particular — and popular opinion now gives very rigidly defined roles to composer and performer, to the point that many expect a very narrow field of professional activities of each. Perhaps it is partly the force of professional specialization which seems so strong nowadays, especially in the sciences. We wouldn’t want to turn into a race of Fachidioten, though.
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