Brooklyn Telemann Chamber Society (BTCS) has released its film version of Gluck’s “Orfeo.” The movie is now available for free streaming on the organization’s YouTube channel. Soprano/violinist, and BTCS founder, Liz Kiger, directed the film, which premiered on June 30, 2022.

The BTCS production is an amalgam of various 1762 -1774 reform opera scores, featuring additional music, several added characters, and soprano Alexandra Pawlus in the title role. Helena Waterous co-stars as Eurydice.

An intriguing pastiche, the film features a cast of emerging artists with attention-grabbing voices. Kiger includes an overture of Kreisler’s rendition of the Gluck Melodie, an aria made from the instrumental ballet pieces, Naselli’s famous Eurydice aria sang by newly introduced character Persephone, and lines from Dante’s “Inferno” spoken by the added characters of Hades and Charon.

Kiger founded BTCS to present productions of early music in ways that expand the accessibility of opera to modern audiences. The company has a particular emphasis on spotlighting artists within the LGBTQIA+ community.