Met Opera Most Recently Staged Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice in 2019-2020

Summary: Met Opera most recently staged Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice in the 2019-2020 season as the third revival of staging debuted in 2007 by Mark Morris.

Danielle de Niese as Euridice and Stephanie Blythe's trouser role as Orfeo in the first revival of Mark Morris's 2006-2007 new production of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice; sets by Allen Moyer, costumes by Isaac Mizrahi, lighting by James F. Ingalls and choreography by Mark Morris: The Grand @TheGrand165, via Twitter March 22, 2021

Met Opera most recently staged Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice in the 2019-2020 season as the third revival of the new production debuted by Mark Morris in the 2006-2007 season.

Met Opera debuted a new production of Orfeo ed Euridice by German classical composer Christoph von Gluck (July 2, 1714-Nov. 15, 1787) on Wednesday, May 2, 2007, in the opera company's 83rd performance of the opera. The new production received four performances in the 2006-2007 season. The first through fourth, closing performances were held Wednesday, May 2, 2007; Saturday, May 5; Wednesday, May 9; and Saturday, May 12.

Mark Morris directed and choreographed the new production. The American choreographer, dancer and director had made his Met Opera debuts, as director and choreographer, in his new production of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.

His production team comprised Allen Moyer, set designer; Isaac Mizrahi, costume designer; and James F. Ingalls, lighting designer. American set designer Allen Moyer and American fashion Isaac Mizrahi made their Met Opera debuts in the new production. American lighting designer James F. Ingalls had made his Met Opera debut Monday, Feb. 10, 1997, in the opera company's 45th performance of Wozzeck by Austrian composer Alban Berg (Feb. 9, 1885-Dec. 24, 1935).

James Levine was the new production's conductor. . The American conductor had made his Met Opera debut Saturday, June 5, 1971, in the opera company's 539th performance of Tosca by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924).

David Daniels sang the male title role of Orfeo, whose wife's unexpected death at their wedding prompts the opera's plot. The American countertenor had made his Met Opera debut Saturday, April 10, 1999, as Sesto in the opera company's ninth performance of Giulio Cesare by German-British baroque composer George Frideric Handel (Feb. 23, 1685-April 14, 1759).

Maija Kovalevska sang the female title role of Euridice, whose happy fate in Gluck's opera contradicts Greek mythology's unhappy ending. The Latvian soprano had made her Met Opera debut Saturday, Dec. 9, 2006, as Mimì in the opera company's 1,184th performance of La Bohème by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924).

Heidi Grant Murphy sang the trouser role of Amore, who corrects the missteps made by Orfeo and Euridice during Orfeo's failed rescue of his wife from the Underworld. The American operatic soprano had made her Met Opera debut Monday, Nov. 13, 1989, as a Servant in the opera company's 35th performance of Die Frau ohne Schatten by German late Romantic and early modern composer Richard Strauss (June 11, 1864-Sept. 8, 1949).

One season (2007-2008) intervened between the new production's debut and its first revival. Met Opera launched the production's first revival in the 2008-2009 season. The first revival received seven January performances. The first revival's first through seventh, closing performances took place Friday, Jan. 9, 2009; Wednesday, Jan. 14; Saturday, Jan. 17; Tuesday, Jan. 20; Saturday, Jan. 24; Wednesday, Jan. 28; and Saturday, Jan. 31.

James Levine reprised his conductorship for the first five of the first revival's seven performances. He shared the conductorship with Kazem Abdullah, who conducted the sixth and seventh, closing performances, Wednesday, Jan. 28, and Saturday, Jan. 31. The American conductor made his Met Opera debut in the first revival's sixth performance.

Stephanie Blythe sang the male title role as a trouser role in the first revival's first and third through seventh performances. The American mezzo-soprano had made her Met Opera debut Friday, April 14, 1995, as the Voice in the opera company’s 273rd performance of Parsifal by 19th-century German composer and librettist Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813-Feb. 13, 1883).

Stephanie Blythe shared the role with Kirstin Chávez, who sang the trouser role in the first revival's second performance, Wednesday, Kan. 14. The American mezzo-soprano had made her Met Opera debut Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005, as Mercédès in the opera company's 929th performance of Carmen by French Romantic Era composer Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875).

Danielle de Niese sang the first revival's Euridice. The Australian-American lyric soprano had made her Met Opera debut Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998, as Barbarina in the opera company's 368th performance of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.

Heidi Grant Murphy made her first reprisal as Amore in the first revival's first five performances. She shared the role with Ying Huang, who sang the Cupid role in the first revival's sixth and seventh, closing performances, Wednesday, Jan. 28, and Saturday, Jan. 31. The Chinese operatic soprano had made her Met Opera debut Friday, Dec. 29, 2006, as Pamina in the opera company's 365th performance of Mozart's The Magic Flute / Die Zauberflöte.

One season (2009-2010) of nonperformance separated the production's first and second revivals. Met Opera held the production's second revival, with five performances, in the 2010-2011 season. The second revival's first through fifth, closing performances took place Friday, April 29, 2011; Wednesday, May 4; Saturday, May 7; Wednesday, May 11; and Saturday, May 14.

David Daniels sang the second revival's male title role. His portrayals in the second revival marked his first reprisal of the role.

Kate Royal sang the second revival's female title role. The English lyric soprano's appearance in the second revival's first performance, Friday, April 29, marked her Met Opera debut.

Lisette Oropesa sang the second revival's trouser role of Amore. The Cuban-American operatic soprano had made her Met Opera debut Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006, as a Woman of Crete in the opera company’s 60th performance of Mozart's Idomeneo.

Eight seasons of nonperformance (2011-2012 through 2018-2019) separated the second revival from the third revival. Met Opera offered the third revival, with seven autumn performances, in the 2019-2020 season. The third revival's first through seventh, closing performances took place Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019, at 3 p.m.; Thursday, Oct. 24, at 8 p.m.; Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m.; Friday, Nov. 1, at 8 p.m.; Monday, Nov. 4, at 8 p.m.; Thursday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Nov. 10, at 3 p.m.

Mark Wigglesworth was the third revival's conductor. The English conductor had made his Met Opera debut Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2005, in the opera company’s 419th performance of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.

Jamie Barton sang the third revival's trouser role of Orfeo. The American mezzo-soprano had made her Met Opera debut Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009, as the Second of Three Ladies in the opera house’s 393rd performance of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte.

Hei-Kyung Hong sang the third revival's Euridice. The South Korean-American lyric soprano had made her Met Opera debut Saturday, Nov. 17, 1984, as Servilia in the opera house’s eighth performance of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito.

Hera Hyesang Park sang the third revival's Amore. The Metropolitan Opera Archives Database (MetOpera Database) notes that Hera Hyesang Park made her debut as Hyesang Park. The South Korean lyric coloratura soprano had made her Met Opera debut Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017, as the First Wood Sprite in the opera company's 28th performance of Rusalka by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák (Sept. 8, 1841-May 1, 1904).

Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice has been in Met Opera's repertoire since the opera company's second season, 1884-1885. The happy opera's Metropolitan Opera premiere took place Saturday, April 11, 1885, at Boston Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts, during the opera company's 1884-1885 tour. Orfeo ed Euridice received one performance in the 1884-1885 season.

Mark Morris's production of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice sequences, after the opera's Metropolitan Opera premiere, as Met Opera's seventh new production of the opera. Including the premiere in the production tally brings Met Opera's total Orfeo ed Euridice productions to eight.

Mark Morris's production of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice debuted approximately 122 years and one-third months after the opera's Metropolitan Opera premiere. His production debuted 95 years 18 days after Met Opera's second opera about Orpheus and Euridice. Met Opera's United States premiere of L'Orfeo by Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi (May 9, 1567-Nov. 29, 1643) occurred Sunday, April 14, 1912.

Met Opera's third opera about the couple's Underworld experiences premieres Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021. Matthew Aucoin's modern Eurydice conforms with Greek mythology's tradition of the couple's Underworld reunion.

The takeaways for Met Opera's most recent staging of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice in the 2019-2020 season are that Mark Morris's new production debuted in the 2006-2007 season and experienced its third revival in the 2019-2020 season; and that Met Opera's Orfeo ed Euridice repertoire has yielded eight productions, comprising the opera's premiere and seven new subsequent productions.

Jamie Barton sings the title role of Orfeo as a trouser role in Mark Morris's third revival of Mark Morris's 2006-2007 new production; sets by Allen Moyer, costumes by Isaac Mizrahi, lighting by James F. Ingalls and choreography by Mark Morris: Met Opera Guild @MetOperaGuild, via Twitter Oct. 17, 2019

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Danielle de Niese as Euridice and Stephanie Blythe's trouser role as Orfeo in the first revival of Mark Morris's 2006-2007 new production of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice; sets by Allen Moyer, costumes by Isaac Mizrahi, lighting by James F. Ingalls and choreography by Mark Morris: The Grand @TheGrand165, via Twitter March 22, 2021, @ https://twitter.com/TheGrand165/status/1374120561236873216

Jamie Barton sings the title role of Orfeo as a trouser role in Mark Morris's third revival of Mark Morris's 2006-2007 new production; sets by Allen Moyer, costumes by Isaac Mizrahi, lighting by James F. Ingalls and choreography by Mark Morris: Met Opera Guild @MetOperaGuild, via Twitter Oct. 17, 2019, @ https://twitter.com/MetOperaGuild/status/1184861975672774658

For further information:

"Debut: Kazem Abdullah." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 352831 Orfeo ed Euridice {92} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/28/2009.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=352831

"Debut: Maija Kovalevska." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351707 La Bohème {1184} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/09/2006.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351707

"Debuts: Ana Maria Martinez, Kirstin Chávez." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351356 Carmen {929} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/19/2005.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351356

"Debuts: Antony Walker, Kate Royal." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353968 Orfeo ed Euridice {94} Metropolitan Opera House: 04/29/2011.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353968

“Debuts: Bernard Labadie, Matthias Klink, Jamie Barton, Georg Zeppenfeld.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353076 Die Zauberflöte {393} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/23/2009.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353076

"Debuts: Danielle de Niese, Jennifer Welch-Babidge, Andrea Trebnik, James Acheson, Mark McCullough, Terry John Bates." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 331093 New Production Le Nozze di Figaro {368} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/29/1998.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351356

"Debuts: David Daniels, Daniel Taylor." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 331576 Giulio Cesare {9} Metropolitan Opera House: 04/10/1999.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=331576

"Debuts: Falk Struckmann, James F. Ingalls." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 327350 New Production Wozzeck {45} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/10/1997.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=327350

“Debuts: Hei-Kyung Hong, Nancy Ticotin.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 278610 La Clemenza di Tito {8} Matinee ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 11/17/1984.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=278610

“Debuts: Hyesang Park, Anthony Clark Evans, Daniela Mack, Austin McCormick.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 356617 New production Rusalka {28} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/02/2017.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=356617

“Debuts: Lisette Oropesa, Jeffrey Francis, Simon O’Neill.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID:351557 Idomeneo {60} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/28/2006.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351557

"Debuts: Mark Morris, Allen Moyer, Isaac Mizrahi." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 352019 New Production Orfeo ed Euridice {83} Metropolitan Opera House: 05/02/2007.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=352019

“Debuts: Mark Wigglesworth, Maurizio Muraro, Joyce DiDonato . . .” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351338 Le Nozze di Figaro {419} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/02/2005.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351338

Debuts: Peter Glossop, James Levine.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 225710 > Tosca {539} Matinee ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 06/05/1971.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=225710

"Debuts: Ruth Falcon, Heidi Grant Murphy." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 298490 Die Frau ohne Schatten {35} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/13/1989.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=298490

“Debuts: Stephanie Blythe, Anthony Dean Griffey.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 320010 Parsifal {273} Metropolitan Opera House: 04/14/1995.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=320010

"Debuts: Ying Huang, Bennett Kosma, Jesse Burnside Murray, Kenneth Floyd." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351755 Premiere of abridged version Die Zauberflöte {365} Matinee ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 12/29/2006.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351755

The Grand @TheGrand165. "MET OnDemand, Monday, March 22 Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice Starring Danielle de Niese, Heidi Grant Murphy, and Stephanie Blythe, conducted by James Levine. Production by Mark Morris. From January 24, 2009. @MetOpera." Twitter. March 22, 2021.
Available @ https://twitter.com/TheGrand165/status/1374120561236873216

Marriner, Derdriu. "Met Opera First Staged Greek Myth of Orfeo ed Euridice in April 1885." Earth and Space News. Monday, Oct. 18, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/08/met-opera-first-staged-greek-myth-of.html

Met Opera Guild @MetOperaGuild. "Hailed by @nytimes as the 'leader of a new generation of opera stars,' Jamie Barton takes sings title role in Gluck's Baroque masterpiece 'Orfeo ed Euridice.' Next week, lecturer Tanisha Mitchell dives into the underworld in this Pre-Performance lecture! http://ow.ly/ZBnk50wNKxB." Twitter. Oct. 17, 2019.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOperaGuild/status/1184861975672774658

“Metropolitan Opera Premiere: Orfeo ed Euridice.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 3930 Metropolitan Opera Premiere Orfeo ed Euridice {1} Boston Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts: 04/11/1885.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=3930

"New Production: Orfeo ed Euridice." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 352019 New Production Orfeo ed Euridice {83} Metropolitan Opera House: 05/02/2007.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=352019