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For more information please contact: Melissa Gerstein (646) 369-5247 or melissa-AT-bropera.org  Please also visit, www.bropera.org

Brooklyn Repertory Opera to present famed Greek story

Long considered to be one of opera's most heartrending love stories, Gluck's “Orpheus and Eurydice” will be presented at the Brooklyn Repertory Opera on March 20th 7:30, March 21st at 3:30, March 28th and March 29th at 3:30 PM at the Brooklyn Lyceum Theatre in Park Slope, Brooklyn. All performances are in English.  

The opera opens with Orpheus (Melissa Gerstein, Nicholas Tamagna) mourning the loss of his wife, Eurydice (Joyce Elaine Greene, Courtenay Schowalter) who was fatally bitten by a snake.  Grief stricken, he vows to rescue her from the underworld.  Amore (Danielle Fisk, Ilya Speranza), the god of Love, consoles Orpheus by telling him that love can overcome all obstacles and gives him only one condition he must follow when he rescues Eurydice from Hades: he is not to hold her hand or look at her until they have ascended from Hades.  Orpheus accepts the challenge and begins his passage to Hades.

Along his journey, he encounters the Furies, goddesses of vengeance. Orpheus' singing rouses the Furies and they let him pass safely. When Orpheus arrives at the Elysium, resting place of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous, Eurydice is presented to him, blindfolded, by the gods. Without looking at her or saying a word to her, he leads Eurydice from Hades. Eurydice, impatient, begins to question Orpheus about why he is not speaking to her and why they are unable to embrace. She takes his coldness as rejection. No longer able to restrain himself, Orpheus turns to answer Eurydice and she dies once more in front of him.  Distraught that his wife has died once again, Orpheus attempts to kill himself but Amore stops him.  Amore revives Eurydice from death and the lovers are reunited.

The opera is conducted by Harry Saltzman.  Tickets for Orpheus and Eurydice are $20.00 for adult and $10.00 for children and seniors. Group rates are also available.  Brooklyn Lyceum is located at 227 4th Ave, Brooklyn, New York (located on the corner of Union and 4th Avenue).  It is accessible to the R Subway at the Union Street stop.  For reservations or more information, call (866) 469-2687 or visit www.bropera.org.