L’ORFEO

Premiere November 18th 2017 at 7.30 on the Large Stage

First revival January 26th 2018 at 7.30 on the Large Stage

Exactly 410 years ago, in the palace of Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, was performed the first opera of the great Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, Orpheus. The last great master of the Renaissance madrigal and the first opera dramaturge of the Baroque epoch succeeded in achieving the perfect synthesis of text, music and stage drama by his Orpheus and enthroned it in the history of music as the first real example of the opera genre. This exciting musical drama describes the destiny of a mythical singer Orpheus, who by his singing and playing manages to touch all earthly and even divine beings. Orpheus has both the great powers and human weaknesses and feelings. He loves, he suffers and loses, passes through joys and despairs. “Orpheus” is at the same time the story about the spiritual journey of a man who, through his suffering and repentance finds true meaning and happiness in life as well as cognition of his place in the Universe.

This master peace will be for the first time presented in Belgrade and Serbia by the team of the New Belgrade Opera, in co-production with the Opera & Theatre Madlenianum on Saturday, November 18th, 2017 on the Large stage at 19.30. Vocal soloists from the country and abroad, with the instrumental ensemble on the period instruments of Monteverdi's time and directed by a German director Daniel Pfluger, will present their artworks after several months’ work with two of our renowned early music specialists, a contralto Marijana Mijanović and a conductor Predrag Gosta.

For the third year in a row the New Belgrade Opera in cooperation with the Opera & Theatre Madlenianum has fulfilled the need for the baroque repertoire on the music scene. Setting the opera Orpheus is a special refreshment and exclusivity for the theater music scene of the region.

The New Belgrade Opera was founded in 2014 with the idea to fill the repertoire gap in the country and region, as well as to create opportunities for engaging new talented artists and to base its work on the strict principles of work in Europe and the most famous opera houses in the world. In collaboration with Madlenianum, NBO has presented two projects so far – The Coronation of Poppea of Claudio Monteverdi as well as the opera Orlando of George Frideric Handel.

PREDRAG GOSTA (USA / Serbia) was born in Belgrade and he finished the elementary and postgraduate studies of solo singing and harpsichord at the famous Trinity College of Music in London. He graduated from solo singing, choir and orchestra conducting at the State University of Georgia in the USA, advancing in Russia and Europe. He has been advancing his harpsichord, organ and historical interpretation skills through working with the artists such as Colin Tilney, James Johnston, Arthur Has, Kenneth Weiss, Andrew Lawrence King, Anthony Rooley, Michael Fields, Evelyn Tab, Emma Kirkby, Philip Torby, Vivica Genaux, Lorand Kilbertus and others. He is the founder and the artistic director of New Trinity Baroque, Early Music Festival, Belgrade Baroque Academy and the New Belgrade Opera. He is also the conductor of the New Symphony Orchestra Makris. He has performed with ensembles such as London Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra in Moscow, National Philharmonic Orchestra in Washington, etc. He has performed at festivals in Boston, Amherst, Connecticut and Piccolo Spoleto Festival (USA), at the Darlington Festival (England), Vammalla Festival in Finland, the Korčula Baroque Festival, Varaždin Baroque Evenings, etc. He has released a dozen compact discs with a repertoire of music from the 16th to the 21st century.

MARIJANA MIJANOVIĆ, a vocal pedagogue, has studied piano at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, and solo singing at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. She has won several international competitions. She has her breakthrough onto the international scene in 2009, performing Penelope at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in Monteverdi's The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland with the Les Arts Florissants ensemble, led by William Christie. With the same conductor and the ensemble of the Zurich Opera, she has also recorded a DVD of Handel’s opera Orlando, where she played the main role. She has performed in the leading opera houses and concert halls, as well as at the prestigious festivals. She has been cooperating with the conductors such as Hartmut Haenchen, Riccardo Chailly, Emmanuelle Haïm, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Paul McCreesh, Marc Minkowski, Christophe Rousset and Jean-Christophe Spinosi. She has recorded a numerous opera works of art of Handel, Vivaldy and other composers, led by William Christie, Marc Minkowski, Alan Curtis, Fabio Biondi and Ottavio Dantone. Her solo CD Affetti barocchi with the arias of Handel was released by Sony in 2007. An addition to her work with the New Belgrade Opera, Marijana Mijanović is also the artistic co-director of Belgrade Baroque Academy. She lives in Switzerland.

Characters:

Orpheus: Nikola Diskić, baritone (Germany/Serbia)
Eurydice & Music: Antonia Dunjko, soprano (Croatia/Netherland)
Proserpina & Nymph: Radoslava Vorgić, soprano (Germany/Serbia)
Messenger & Hope: Dragana Popović, mezzo-soprano
Pluto & Charon: Marko Špehar, bass (Germany/Croatia)
Shepherd I, Infernal Spirit & Apollo: Marko Živković, tenor
Shepherd II, Infernal Spirit & Echo: Ljubomir Popović, tenor
Shepherd III & Infernal Spirit: Franko Klisović, countertenor (Croatia)
Shepherd IV & Infernal Spirit: Milan Stančić, bass-baritone
Nymphs, Shepherds & Infernal Spirits: Marijana Radosavljević and Marijana Davinić,

sopranos; Jana Cvetković, mezzo-soprano; Đorđe Petrović, Aleksandar Krunić and Mirko  Milanović, tenors