| Teatro Real | ||
| Leonardo García-Alarcón | Conductor | |
| Sasha Waltz | Director | |
| Alexander Schwarz | Set Designer | |
| Bernd Skodzig | Costume Designer | |
| Martin Hauk | Lighting Designer | |
| Freiburg Baroque Orchestra | ||
| Sasha Waltz & Guests | ||
| Vocalconsort Berlin | ||
| Georg Nigl | Baritone | Orfeo (Orpheus) |
| Julie Roset | Soprano | Euridice (Eurydice), La musica (Music) |
| Charlotte Hellekant | Mezzo-soprano | La speranza (Hope), La messaggiera (Messenger) |
| Luciana Mancini | Mezzo-soprano | Proserpina (Proserpine) |
| Konstantin Wolff | Bass | Plutone (Pluto) |
| Alex Rosen | Bass | Caronte (Charon) |
| Julián Millán | Bass | Apollo, Eco (Echo) |
| Cécile Kempenaers | Soprano | Ninfa (Nymph), Pastore 1 (Shepherd 1) |
| Leandro Marziotte | Countertenor | Pastore 2 (Shepherd 2) |
The first operatic experiments in history were conceived on the ambitious premise that –in the same way as with the legendary Orfeo- it was possible to tame human passions with the voice and music: instil happiness, sadness, or even more so, bring them face to face in an abrupt manner, as when the fateful messenger interrupts the wedding celebrations in the second act of this opera. It is not surprising, therefore, that the myth of the famous Thracian singer was the protagonist of some of the first titles in this genre.
The efficacy of these artifices not only concurred with Neoplatonic philosophy of order and the consonance of the universe: thanks to the genius of Monteverdi , the audience of that time discovered in L’Orfeo the alliance between theatre and singing provided a dynamic to the human experience of unexplored emotions and unsung intensity. The German choreographer Sasha Waltz takes on a similar challenge in her understanding of this founding work in the history of opera: the integration of the arts in a flowing continuo of seamless sound and movement, able to dominate – by way of harmony and geometry - our own passions.