The fifth opera to be offered in Santa Fe Opera’s 2023 season, Monteverdi’s “Orfeo”, dating from 1607, is the oldest opera holding a space in the international performance repertory. Never before performed by the company, a new production was designed by director Yuval Sharon and new orchestration was created by contemporary composer Nico Muhly.
The announced Orfeo was veteran tenor Rolando Villazón. Soon after the final dress rehearsal, the company announced that Villazón had suffered an injury and would miss the opening night performance. His cover for the performance, Colorado baritone Luke Sutliff, took on the physically challenging role and performed it with distinction. Sutliff, who had been a 2022 Santa Fe Opera Apprentice and who sang Duncaire in the 2022 Santa Fe Opera production of Bizet’s “Carmen” had already been announced as Sergeant Belcore in the 2024 Santa Fe Opera revival of Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore”.
[Below: Baritone Luke Sutliff; edited image of a publicity photograph.]
Luke Sutliff’s Orfeo
Luke Sutliff exhibited an attractive lyric baritone and an engaging onstage personality. His Orfeo spent much of the early part of the opera on a mid-stage dome with a nymph and five shepherds (pastore) celebrating his marriage to Euridice. These scenes take place in Thrace, the region of Greece that Orfeo calls home.
[Below: Luke Sutliff as Orfeo at his wedding revels; edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]
When Orfeo learns from La Messeggiera of his wife’s death, he pursues her spirit in the underworld. In director Yuval Sharon’s technologically impressive staging, the dome on which the early part of the opera is played vertically separates, revealing the Underworld. Soon Sutliff’s Orfeo is singing a long monologue while soaring in the air on wires above the stage, occasionally doing acrobatics.
[Below: Luke Sutliff, on wires, flying through the air above the underworld; edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]
Orfeo’s pursuit eventually leads to his obtaining conditional permission to leave the underworld with Euridice, but he fails to meet the condition imposed on him.
[Below: Orfeo (Luke Sutliff, right) has obtained permission to leave the underworld with Euridice (Amber Norelei, left) providing he never looks at her during the journey; edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]
A dejected Orfeo is confronted by his father, who invites Orfeo to join him in the heavens.
[Below: Orfeo (Luke Sutliff responds to the entreaty of his father, Apollo (Luke Harnish, not visible) as La Musica (Lauren Snouffer) plays her lyre; edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]
Amber Norelei’s Euridice, Paula Murrihy’s La Messengiera and Lauren Snouffer’s La Musica and Speranza
Venezuelan soprano Amber Norelei sang the relatively small part of Euridice, who leaves the revels early to succumb to a serpent’s bite.
[Below: Euridice (Amber Norelei, center left, enjoys some fun with the masked Orfeo (Luke Sutliff, center right); edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the San ta Fe Opera.]
We next see Euridice in Hades, surrounded by inhabitants of the Underworld. Unlike many other operas based on the Orpheus myth, Monteverdi’s Euridice presents the singer with only a limited opportunity to make an impression.
[Below: Denizens of the underworld (Santa Fe Opera Chorus), surround Euridice (Amber Norelei, on conveyance) who has received permission to leave Hades; edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]
Irish mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy was cast as the Messenger (La Messaggera) who in a lengthy (and authoritatively sung) aria brings the news of Euridice’s death by serpent bite.
[Below: Paula Murrihy as La Messaggera; edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]
This is the third role I have seen Murrihy perform, following her Dido [Review: Barrie Kosky’s Spirited “Dido and Aeneas” Arrives at Los Angeles Opera – October 25, 2014] and Ruggiero [Review: Santa Fe Opera’s “Alcina”: Beautifully Sung Enchantment – July 29, 2017]
Texas lyric soprano Lauren Snouffer performed two roles. The first La Speranza, encourages the grief-stricken Orfeo to seek Euridice in the underworld, although she will accompany him no further than the entrance to Hades.
[Below: La Speranza (Lauren Snouffer, right) leads Orfeo (Luke Sutliff, left) to the entrance to Hades; edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]
Snouffer also performs the role of the lyre-strumming, La Musica. In these two roles, Snouffer was present onstage for much of the opera, demonstrating an impressive grasp of performing Renaissance-era vocal music.
[Below: La Musica (Lauren Snouffer) plays her lyre; edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]
Of all the cast members, Snouffer is the artist I have seen perform most often, in a wide range of principal and comprimario lyric roles from Mozart [Review: Boogie Nights at Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro” – Houston Grand Opera, January 30, 2016] to Musto [Review: Pictures at an Exhibition – John Musto’s Opera “Later the Same Evening” Brings Edward Hopper’s Art to Life – Glimmerglass Festival, August 13, 2011.]
Her roles also include Broadway musicals performed by opera companies, including Magnolia Hawkes [Review: “Show Boat” at the Glimmerglass Festival – July 16, 2019] and Carrie Pipperidge [Review: Houston Grand Opera’s Convincing Case for “Carousel” – April 22, 2016].
Lucy Evans’ La Ninfa, Philippe d’Esperance’s First Pastore, Brandon Bell‘s Second Pastore, Luke Elmer’s Third Pastore, Younggwang Park’s Fourth Pastore and First Spirit and Le Bu’s Fifth Pastore and Second Spirit
Much of the early and later parts of the opera the stage is filled with the celebrations of five shepherds (pastore), two spirits and a nymph. These celebrations include some of the most charming scenes in Monteverdi’s opera.
The five pastore are Massachusetts tenor Philippe d’Esperance, Virginia baritone Brandon Bell, Texas countertenor Luke Elmer, South Korean bass Younggwang Park and Chinese bass-baritone Le Bu. The nymph was performed Washington mezzo-soprano Lucy Evans. Each of these artists performed admirably in interesting staging.
Below: La Ninfa (Lucy Evans, below) and First Spirit/Second Pastore (Younggwang Park, above); edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]
[Below: The Fifth Pastore/Second Spirit (Le Bu); edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]
[Below: Fourth Pastore/First Spirit (Younggwang Park, far left, above) Euridice (Amber Norelei, far left, below), Third Pastore (Luke Elmer, center left, standing), La Speranza (Lauren Snouffer, center left, on ground), Second Pastore (Brandon Bell, partially hidden by La Speranza), First Pastore (Philippe d’Esperance, center, on ground, playing lute); edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]
James Creswell’s Caronte, Blake Denson’s Plutone, Caitlin Aloia’s Proserpina and Luke Harnish’s Apollo
Four of the artists, each important to the opera’s plot, are heard as offstage voices, rather than appearing onstage.
Two of these I had praised in other roles in Santa Fe Opera’s 2023 season – District of Columbia bass James Creswell [Review: Ailyn Perez Leads Vocally Splendid Cast in Pountney’s Alternative Vision of “Rusalka” – Santa Fe Opera, July 26, 2023] and Kentucky baritone Blake Denson [Review: A Well-Sung “Tosca” Starring Leah Hawkins, Joshua Guerrero, Reginald Smith, Jr. and Blake Denson – Santa Fe Opera, June 30, 2023].
Creswell provided his sonorous bass for the role of Caronte, who ferries those arriving gates at the Underworld across the river to their destination.
Equally satisfying was the performance of Denson, as the god Plutone. That god was convinced by his wife Proserpina (performed by Pennsylvania soprano Caitlin Aloia, a current Santa Fe Opera Apprentice) to let Euridice rejoin Orfeo in the mortal world. Denson’s Plutone agrees, but adds the condition (that apparently no one in myth can resist violating), that Orfeo never look back at Euridice until their journey is over.
Monteverdi’s version of the “Orpheus and Euridice” legend has a twist that the other leading repertory operas on the subject do not have. We learn that Apollo, Orfeo’s father, never seemed happy with Orfeo’s adventures on Earth, likely even disapproving of his son’s marriage. At opera’s end, Apollo, sung by Pennsylvania bass-baritone and Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Luke Harnish, persuades Orfeo to join him in the stars, an invitation that Orfeo accepts.
Maestro Harry Bicket and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, Nico Muhly’s Orchestration and Susanne Shelton and the Santa Fe Opera Chorus
This is the second of the five operas being performed in the Santa Fe Opera season that is conducted by the company’s Music Director British Maestro Harry Bicket. I praised his performance and that the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra in their performance of Debussy’s opera [Review: Passionately Sung, “Pelléas et Mélisande” in Netia Jones’ Attractive, Introspective Production – Santa Fe Opera, July 28, 2023]. Maestro Bickett and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra were equally praiseworthy in their realization of Monteverdi’s four-century old opera.
Monteverdi’s “Orfeo” greatly benefited by a modern re-orchestration by contemporary Vermont composer Nico Muhly. For a taste of Muhly’s brilliant work, a brass ensemble outside the theater played the bright-sounding theme of the toccata that begins the opera while the audience moved into the theater to take their seats..
[Below: Composer Nico Muhly; edited image, based on a publicity photograph.]
Those Santa Fe Opera Apprentices who were not performing principal roles in the night’s performances, constituted the Santa Fe Opera Chorus, under the direction of Utah Chorus Master Susanne Sheston. The Chorus engaged with the Pastore and the Nymphs in the scenes set in Orfeo’s Thrace.
[Below: Pastore and nymphs are joined by men and women of Thrace (Santa Fe Opera Arpprentices); edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]
The chorus of Santa Fe Opera Apprentices, donning white faces and lighted halos, also comprised the residents of the Underworld. All the choristers, whether earthbound or in the depths below sang with passionate conviction.
[Below: The Santa Fe Opera Chorus portraying residents of the Underworld; edited image. based pn a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]
Yuval Sharon’s Production
The production, created by Illinois director Yuval Sharon, was outstanding. The transformation of the dome representing the fields of Thrace into an open chasm representing the Underworld provided an appropriately otherworldly spectacle, The swirling projections on a background of mist, use of wires to transport Orfeo through space, and mysterious lighting for the residents of Hades were truly impressive.
[Below: La Musica (Lauren Snouffer) plays her lyre; edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]
Sharon’s team included New York designers Alex Schweder and Matthew Johnson for the “Visual Environment”. New York designers Carlos J. Soto created the costumes and Yuki Nakase Link the lighting. South Korea designer Hana S. Kim created the projections and California designer Mark Grey the Sound Design.
Recommendation
I recommend the production and musical performance of Monteverdi’s “Orfeo” for both the veteran opera-goer and the person new to opera.