»But soon we shall become song!« — Countertenor Carlo Vistoli in one of Opera's greatest, achingly beautiful and tragic love stories, in which the power of music overcomes death in the name of love. Italian star director Damiano Michieletto returns to the Komische Oper Berlin after his success with Jules Massenet's fairy-tale opera Cendrillon , with a classic of the repertoire. Orpheus manages to placate the hosts of the underworld and wrest his beloved Eurydice from Hades with the all-enchanting power of his song. Now, on the journey back to Life, he is not allowed to look back at Eurydice, under penalty of Eurydice’s irrevocable death. Tormented by the desire to catch a glimpse of her beloved, Eurydice begs Orpheus for proof of his love until he finally dares, fatally, to look back… 

 

Hovering on the threshold between the Baroque and Classical periods and building on the foundation of Metamorphoses by the classical-antique poet Ovid, Christoph Willibald Gluck and his librettist Ranieri de' Calzabigi retold a story anew, which had served as a model for several works at the birth of the Opera genre, including Claudio Monteverdi's first opera. This is hardly surprising, since the myth revolves around singing itself: Art, music and song conquer the horrors of death, in the name of love.