Opera Australia | Orpheus and Eurydice
December 2, 2025, Regent Theatre, Melbourne, VIC
The Occasion
On December 2nd, as Melbourne ushered in a brisk and wintry start to the festive season, the city’s beloved citadel of West End–style splendour, the Regent Theatre, opened a portal into the underworld. Audiences were invited to peer across the River Styx and witness the shenanigans unfolding in Hades as Opera Australia presented Gluck’s enduring masterpiece Orpheus and Eurydice, drawn from the rich tapestry of Homeric and Greek mythology.
Such is the timelessness of this legend that Hadestown, a modern retelling, continues to pack houses on London’s Shaftesbury Avenue and was toured by Opera Australia in Sydney and Melbourne earlier this year.
Your humble critic, in a previous life as composer, once ventured through similar mythic terrain while collaborating with Margaret Atwood on The Penelopiad for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon—an opera rooted in the story of Odysseus as viewed through Penelope’s eyes, narrated from her shadowy residence in Hades.
Gluck, the Composer
Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787) stands as one of the great reformers of 18th-century opera. Rejecting the excesses of ornate vocal display, he sought clarity, dramatic truth, and expressive simplicity. His reform operas — chief among them Orfeo ed Euridice and Alceste — reshaped operatic storytelling across Europe.
Gluck’s innovations left a profound imprint on Mozart and helped secure his legacy as a pivotal figure in the evolution of Western opera.
Orpheus: A Short History
Orpheus and Eurydice premiered in Vienna in 1762, marking the dawn of Gluck’s revolutionary reforms. Determined to elevate emotional immediacy and narrative coherence, he stripped away the superficial virtuosity of his era and replaced it with purity of expression and dramatic purpose.
The work’s lyrical restraint, mythic simplicity, and seamless integration of dance made it a milestone in operatic history. Gluck later revised the opera for Paris in 1774 as Orphée et Eurydice, solidifying its status as his most celebrated and enduring masterpiece.
Opera Australia’s Acrobatic Interpretation
Opera Australia and the Edinburgh International Festival have joined forces to present Opera Queensland’s acclaimed production of Orpheus and Eurydice in collaboration with Circa.
The tragic myth follows Orpheus as he descends into Hades to rescue Eurydice, under one inviolable condition: he must not look back, or she will be lost forever. Circa’s breathtaking acrobatics intertwine with Gluck’s luminous score, creating a genre-blending theatrical experience that drew acclaim at the 2024 Sydney Festival.
The Performance
There was a wealth of artistry to savour in this remarkable production.
Vocals: Exquisite performances from Iestyn Davies and Samantha Clarke, both captivating in the title roles.
Orchestra: A spellbinding musical foundation laid by Orchestra Victoria, conducted with vigour, nuance, and a spark of mischief by the ever-dynamic Dane Lam.
Acrobatics & Choreography: Circa delivered breathtaking physical artistry – fluid, daring and seamlessly intertwined with the musical fabric.
Design & Direction: The performance unfolded before stark, monochrome backdrops with integrated surtitles – an aesthetic shaped by director Yaron Lifschitz, whose inspired vision unified the production.
