Following the success of its recent production, MOURN with Alkanna Graeca, FIGURE, in collaboration with Refound, returns to present its new production, Orpheus and Eurydice.

The production stars Hugh Cutting, winner of the 2025 International Opera Rising Star Award and the first countertenor to win the Kathleen Ferrier Award, and is directed by Laura Hounsell, winner of the 2025 Nicky Creed Award at Garsington Opera.

In the ancient Greek legend, Orpheus travels to the underworld to rescue his lost love, Eurydice. He is granted the chance to bring her out of the afterlife and back to the world, but on the condition that he does not look back at her while he leads her. At the final moment, Orpheus can no longer resist the temptation and turns to look at Eurydice, tragically losing her again, forever. The story has been told and retold through history and has been a particular source of inspiration to composers – Orpheus is a musician, and he is able to persuade the gods to let him find his dead lover because his sorrowful songs are so beautiful. Christoph Willibald Gluck’s working of the tale, his 1762 Orfeo ed Euridice, marks a significant moment in the history of opera: a departure from a form in which a narrative serves as a vehicle to showcase music and vocal athleticism to one in which the music is put in service of the drama.

In the spirit of Gluck’s reform, FIGURE is reworking his opera into a new chamber version for mixed ensemble. By contemporising the story and the music, the opera is no longer an artefact of the 18th century but the modern drama which Gluck wanted to create.

Past work from FIGURE at Stone Nest includes a staged Pergolesi Stabat Mater with new music from Alex Mills, starring Dame Emma Kirkby, praised in The Guardian for its ‘timeless directness and simplicity’; Rhythm of the Seasons, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons recomposed as a percussion concerto, just recorded with Delphian Records for release in 2027, praised in The Times as ‘High-risk, high-reward’; and SIDE BY SIDE, performances of Baroque and contemporary music, for which FIGURE was praised in the Guardian as ‘unequivocally impressive, its sound invigorating, its commitment absolute’.

Programme:
Christoph Willibald Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice (new chamber version)

Performers:
Hugh Cutting Orfeo
Sofia Kirwan-Baez Euridice
Anna Dennis Amore
Laura Hounsell stage director
Rebecca Meltzer movement director
Frederick Waxman creative producer, music director