Following widely acclaimed presentations around the globe, director Robert Carsen’s brilliant production of Orfeo ed Euridice is coming home to the Canadian Opera Company for a limited run of performances. Based on the classic Greek myth, Orfeo has recently lost his beloved wife, Euridice, and begs the gods to bring her back from the Underworld. His request is granted on one condition: he’s forbidden to look at her through their entire quest home, at the risk of losing her forever. Orfeo ed Euridice runs for seven performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on October 9, 11, 15, 17, 19, 21, and 25, 2025.

Internationally recognized for his brilliant creative direction, Robert Carsen brings his signature stylized simplicity to the haunting Greek myth at the heart of Orfeo ed Euridice with associate director Christophe Gayral reviving his production in Toronto.

The production’s boldly monochromatic and minimalist sets and costumes, designed by Tobias Hoheisel, subtly reinforce the opera’s themes of grief and loss while effectively directing focus to the emotional sound world created by composer Christoph Willibald Gluck. Lighting from Carsen and Peter Van Praet heightens the atmospheric journey, with dramatic shadows and silhouettes haunting the leads through their perilous quest home.

With Orfeo ed Euridice, Gluck broke from the heavily ornate style of earlier opera and, instead, homed in on the opera’s emotional core, using expressive melodies and simple dramatic conventions that later influenced Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Beethoven’s Fidelio. With the opera’s unique musical sound bridging the gap between baroque and classical, Canadian conductor Bernard Labadie leads the COC Orchestra with Price Family Chorus Master Sandra Horst leading the COC Chorus through the poignant and emotional score.

Iestyn Davies stars as grief-stricken Orfeo in a COC debut for the British countertenor. Davies’ performances around the world have been received to great acclaim with The New York Times describing him as “clear [and] effortless,” the Financial Times hailing his “glorious voice,” and The Telegraph UK declaring, “Iestyn Davies just gets better and better.”

Canadian soprano and Ensemble Studio graduate Anna-Sophie Neher stars as Euridice, returning to the COC following her “runaway star” (Ludwig Van Toronto) performance in the company’s 2022 staging of The Magic Flute as well as a performance as Marzelline in the COC’s 2023 Fidelio where she was praised for her “crystalline tone and clear phrasing” (La Scena Musicale).

Catherine St-Arnaud completes the cast in the role of Amore; this is a COC debut for the Canadian soprano.

Orfeo ed Euridice is sung in Italian and presented by the COC with English and French SURTITLES™.

Ticket Information:

Regularly priced tickets for Orfeo ed Euridice start at $45 for adults, with $28 and $35 tickets available for guests between the ages of 16 and 29 through the COC’s Opera Under 30 program. Tickets can be purchased online at www.coc.ca or by calling the Four Seasons Centre Box Office at 416-363-8231.

For more information on booking student groups, standing room, and rush tickets, as well as other specially priced tickets available to young people under the age of 15, please visit www.coc.ca.