Photo credit: Aliénor Perrard

Algerian soprano Amel Brahim-Djelloul will perform the role of Eurydice in Opera Zuid’s production of “Orphée aux Enfers.”

Director Benjamin Prin and conductor Enrico Delamboye join creative forces once again with Opera Zuid. Mark Omvlee, Roger Smeets, Francis van Broekhuizen, and Mathys Lagier are among the cast. The Theatre Choir Opera Zuid and the Philharmonie Zuidnederland join them. “Orphée aux Enfers” will be sung in performed in French with Dutch and English supertitles.

Giving insight into his new production Prin says in a press release, “Offenbach’s music needs magic. I don’t want to convert this opera to a realistic world, like a hotel lobby or a restaurant. The world we see on stage must be as vibrant as Offenbach’s music. For that, I need the magic of the gods. But I will be ping-ponging with timelines. We’ll take a trip to the 18th century to make fun of Gluck’s Orphée, which is actually very serious. And after a nod to 21st-century politicians, why not return to the Acropolis in Athens?”

The premiere performance will take place at the Parktheater Eindhoven on May 21 at 2:30 pm. The show will run through June 22 at various locations throughout the Netherlands.