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Orfeo ed Euridice

Often overlooked, Gluck is one of the great opera composers.
Bucharest, Ateneul Român 21,000 lei

Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice

Laurence Cummings director/harpsichord
Iestyn Davies counter-tenor
Lydia Teuscher soprano
Rowan Pierce soprano

Gluck wrote forty-nine operas in total, evolving the genre from the extravagancies of the Baroque era to the more focused, storytelling genre it became.

As he matured, Gluck grew unsatisfied with the extravagant conventions of Baroque opera, as epitomised by composers such as Handel or Vivaldi. His influential reforms included reducing the amount of repetition in an aria and trying to make the sung words more intelligible to the audience.

Finishing the exciting double header of Gluck at the Enescu Festical is his Orfeo ed Euridice.

"The marvellously rich countertenor voice of Iestyn Davies is one of the most glorious sounds to be heard on the opera stage today."
William Hartstone, The Express