Orpheus & Eurydice

Event Description

Based on the famous Greek myth of the musician Orpheus who conquers the spirits of hell using the power of music to bring his love back from the underworld. This production will take Victoria opera lovers into the world of French baroque music and dance. Partnering with Ballet Victoria, and welcoming back celebrated soprano Suzanne Rigden, this production not only brings to the Royal Stage a new genre of opera to experience, it also will see world renowned Ukrainian-Canadian soprano Andriana Chuchman making her debut with Pacific Opera Victoria as Eurydice.

Descend into the underworld of love, loss, and longing with Gluck’s Orpheus & Eurydice—a timeless retelling of one of mythology’s most haunting romances. With music that is both ethereal and emotionally charged, this opera reimagines the ancient tale of Orpheus, the gifted musician whose songs could move the heavens, as he dares to defy death itself for the woman he loves.

When Eurydice is torn from life, Orpheus is granted a single chance to retrieve her—on one heartbreaking condition: he must not look back. Gluck’s revolutionary score strips opera to its emotional core, trading excess for elegance and clarity. From the aching simplicity of “Che farò senza Euridice?” to the transcendent “Dance of the Blessed Spirits,” the music pulses with purity and pathos, creating a world where grief becomes beauty and music becomes salvation.

Orpheus and Eurydice is a meditation on the power of art, the fragility of trust, and the eternal human struggle between hope and despair. It invites audiences into a dreamlike landscape where love can triumph over death—but only at a cost. Poetic, poignant, and profoundly moving, this opera lingers like a half-remembered dream, echoing long after the final note.