Orphee – Glass – English National Opera

Image taken from the English National Opera website

The fourth of ENO’s contrasting Orpheus myth operas is perhaps its strongest.  Philp Glass’s Orphee based on Jean Cocteau’s 1950 film is directed by Netia Jones with vivid modern black and white set designs by Lizzie Clachan.  Lucy Carter is an outstanding Lighting Designer with the necessary choreography by Danielle Agami.   

There is much movement on stage and ENO uses a new English translation by the Director Netia Jones and Emma Jenkins.  Much of Jones’s concept is not only told through the moving screens and mirrors, but also through rear video portrayals, which constantly project much of the story.  This is after all Jones’s forte!  

The orchestration is not as complex as the wonderful ENO productions of Satyagraha and Akhnaten, but the Conductor Geoffrey Paterson, making his debut, is constantly on top of the repetitive haunting score and the ENO Orchestra and Chorus match him all the way.   

The Orphee of Nicholas Lester is occasionally underwhelming as he struggles to retain the life of his wife Eurydice sung by a sonorous Sarah Tynan.  However, the voices of the night belonged to the Princess – of Death – Jennifer France and the Heurtebise of the outstanding tenor Nicky Spence.   

This was ENO at its finest, proving that their speciality of Philip Glass productions knows no bounds.