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Love in times of virtual reality
In this version of the myth, Orpheus and Eurydice are not separated by death, but by a fate that affects many present-day relationships: the lovers have lost each other. They no longer communicate directly with each other, only via text message with L’Amour, the personification of love, who also no longer knows how to properly fulfill their role as mediator.
Three different experiences
The story takes place both in a house under construction and in a virtual world. In act 1 you enter a house that is under scaffolding and look inside at Orphée and Eurydice. In the second act, one of the audience follows the story of Eurydice and part follows the story of Orphée. The Eurydice audience enters the house and stands around the set, while the Orphée audience is led onto the balcony and fitted with VR goggles. This part then steps into Orphée’s body through VR technology, and literally wanders in his footsteps through the virtual world, becoming part of the performance: their silhouettes are visible to the Eurydice audience.
After the performance, you can individually participate in the 10-minute Amour experience.
Love, in the person of Amour, no longer knows how to carry out his ‘matching activities’ and he asks you to lend a hand. You get VR goggles and Amour asks you to do a number of things. Gluck’s music is translated by the Dutch-Polish composer Zbigniew Wolny into an intimate and richly varied arrangement for tenor, guitar and electronics.
Collaboration in talent development
The Dutch National Opera, the Nederlandse Reisopera and Opera Zuid consider it an important part of their mission to enable artistic opera talent to develop further. After all, the future of the art form partly depends on how talents are offered a platform and how they are enabled to grow. The three houses use their resources and experience for a long-term cooperation program, aimed at talent development in the Dutch opera and music theater sector.
Annual co-production
The tangible result of the collaboration will be an annual co-production, which will be distributed nationwide through a tour. Orphee | L’Amour | Eurydice is the second co-production. In 2021, the three companies collaborated on the (online) opera L’elisir d’amore.
However, talent development is not limited to singers: the three companies have noted a great need for development opportunities for young theater makers, composers and artistic teams within the opera.
A production that was created through a collaboration with the Nederlandse Reisopera, De Nationale Opera and Opera Zuid in the field of talent development, in co-production with WeMakeVR and M31 Foundation.
This project has been made possible with the financial support of Fonds 21 and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.
