L'Orfeo

Monteverdi's first opera "L'Orfeo", one of the earliest operas in the
history of the genre, composed for Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga of Mantua and
performed in 1607, unfolds before our eyes through a perfect harmony of
theater, dance, opera, music and film. The camera shows us every minute
detail of an imaginary court entertainment in Northern Italy at the
beginning of the 17th century; and through this attention to detail, we
too are drawn into the entertainment. The now legendary Zurich Monteverdi
cycle, consisting of three productions of Monteverdi's only surviving
operas ("L'Orfeo", "The Coronation of Poppea" and "The Return of Ulysses")
mounted in the Zurich Opera House during the late 1970s, is one of the
finest achievements of the mutually inspiring partnership of director
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt. With sets of
startling visual appeal by Ponnelle himself, lovingly recreated period
costumes by Pet Halmen, these productions are pure delight. The Zurich
productions were shown in Hamburg, Vienna, Edinburgh, Berlin, Milan,
Wiesbaden and Munich. The orchestra plays exclusively on original
instruments or carefully reconstructed copies.

Composer:	Claudio Monteverdi
Title:	L'Orfeo
Conductor:	Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Staged By:	Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
Soloist:	Philippe Huttenlocher, Dietlinde Turban, Trudeliese Schmidt, Glenys Linos, Francisco Araiza, Christian Boesch
Set:	Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
Orchestra:	Monteverdi-Ensemble des Opernhauses Zürich
Chorus:	Chor der Oper Zürich
Danced by:	Zürcher Ballett
Video Director:	Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
Genre:	Opera
Length:	103 minutes
Cat.No.:	A05000881