Descent into hell: Opera Zuid's madcap Orpheus in the Underworld

Francis van Broekhuizen (Junon) and Roger Smeets (Jupiter)

Mathys Lagier (Orphée) and Amel Brahim-Djelloul (Eurydice)

Opera Zuid's Orphée aux enfers

Mark Omvlee (Pluton)

Opera Zuid's Orphée aux enfers

By Eleanor Knight, 15 June 2023

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“Amel Brahim-Djelloul’s perky Eurydice has buckets of pastoral charm”

Reviewed at Stadsschouwburg, Utrecht on 13 June 2023

Offenbach, Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld)

Opera Zuid

Enrico Delamboye, Conductor

Benjamin Prins, Director

Marloes en Wikke, Set Designer

Marrit van der Burgt, Costume Designer

Julian Maiwald, Lighting Designer

Philharmonie Zuidnederland

Theaterkoor Opera Zuid

Marloes van der Hoek, Set Designer

Amel Brahim-Djelloul, Eurydice

Mark Omvlee, Pluton

Roger Smeets, Jupiter

Francis van Broekhuizen, Junon

Mathys Lagier, Orphée

Thomas Morris, Bacchus, L'Opinion Publique

Jeroen de Vaal, Mercure

Anna Emelianova, Diane

Olivier Hernandez, John Styx

Marina Ruiz, Venus

Sophie Collin, Cupidon

Willy Laury, Choreography

A striking, if perplexing, Midsummer Night's Dream from Opera Zuid

Clare Varney, 24th May

Ola Mafaalani's staging is a feast for the eyes with creative and edgy lighting, a clever and expressive use of colour and a stunning visual display, but not everything comes off successfully.

**111

In Amsterdam, a Matrimonio segreto for the future

Nicolas Nguyen, 18th March

Young singers, musicians and designers in this Matrimonio segreto co-produced by the three main opera companies in the Netherlands show that, on the stage and in the pit at least, the future of opera is bright.

****1

An enthusiastic and vibrant La traviata

David Pinedo, 2nd July

On a warm summer night, Opera Zuid closes its season with an impassioned, but keen production of La traviata in the Concertgebouw.

***11

Voller Jugend für die Jugend: L'elisir d'amore an der Opera Zuid

Rainer Zerbst, 23rd May

Ohne Chor, gekürzt und verjüngt – ein temporeicher und spritziger Liebestrank an der Opera Zuid.

****1

A sorta fairy tale: Sleepers Awake premieres at Opera Philadelphia

Cameron Kelsall, 22nd April

A new opera by Gregory Spears subverts the Sleeping Beauty trope, with middling results.

**111

Asmik Grigorian strengthens the Met’s revival of Eugene Onegin

Susan Stempleski, 20th April

The Lithuanian soprano’s riveting performance as the central character in Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece lights up Deborah Warner’s mostly bland production.

****1

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Eleanor Knight

Eleanor is a writer and librettist. Her work has appeared in all kinds of places from the Royal Opera House to the foot tunnels beneath the Elephant and Castle roundabout, and she has written arts reviews and features for British papers and magazines. Having begun her working life in theatre, she switched to publishing and later taught creative writing at the University of Brighton and Birkbeck. Currently based in the Netherlands, she teaches at the University of Utrecht. Eleanor plays violin and sings, though not usually at the same time, and has recently taken up speed-skating.