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by Claudio Monteverdi, directed by Marshall Pynkoski

Opera Atelier, Elgin Theatre, Toronto

April 23, 2006

Opera Atelier closes its celebration of its 20th season with Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607).  When OA presented Orfeo in 1989 it was the first fully staged period opera ever seen in Toronto.  Since that time OA has become one of the few Toronto arts groups whose work is constant international demand.  OA’s new production of the world’s first operatic masterpiece is typically vibrant, beautiful and engaging.  As befits an early work, director Marshall Pynkoski and choreographer Jeannette Zingg have chosen a more formal approach than usual with an emphasis on symmetry and strict use of stylized gestures.  Rather than dampening emotion, the stylization actually heightens it.  We sense the pressure of human feelings on the formality that restrains them.

Daniel Belcher gives a superb performance as Orfeo, the demigod who travels to the underworld to win back his recently deceased wife Euridice (the bright-voiced Carla Huhtanen).  His plea to Charon  (an imperturbable Curtis Sullivan) to ferry him across the Styx is truly heartrending.  The luxurious casting finds such OA stars as Colin Ainsworth, Stephanie Novacek and Monica Whicher in the smaller roles of Pastore I, Messaggiera and La Musica.  David Fallis leads the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in lively account of the magnificent score that fully conveys both its beauty and its drama.           

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2006-04-20.

Photo: Daniel Belcher as Orfeo. ©Bruce Zinger.