Video-on-Demand: Orfeo ed Euridice

Orfeo is so consumed with grief at the death of his beloved Euridice that the gods allow him to lead her back from the underworld - if he will not look at her on the way. But who can resist looking at a loved one?

Premiered in 1762, Orfeo ed Euridice is a turning point in the history of opera. Freeing the plot from the conventions of the 18th century opera seria, Gluck introduces fluidity to the drama. The rigid alternation of aria and recitativo is abandoned; continuity and unity are the cornerstones of Gluck's reform. The movement of Gluck’s music - with its lyrical intensity and the interweaving of chorus, solo singing and dance - appeals to theatre makers from all horizons. Teatro Regio Parma has entrusted their new production to the Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, known primarily for her work in film, video and photography particularly in black and white. Since staging her first opera Aida in Salzburg in 2017, Neshat continues to experiment across art forms, imbuing her work with highly poetic and politically charged images and narratives that question issues of power, religion, race, gender and the relationship between past and present, East and West, individual and collective, through her personal experience as an Iranian woman living in exile.

Recorded on 30.01.2026