Orfeo 2007Edinburgh International Festival
Read more about the opera Orfeo
Jonathan Mills launched his first Festival with a concert performance of Candide followed by this production of Orfeo imported from Barcelona. While some of the 'period' detail in the presentation seemed a bit affected, the performance was, on the whole, thoroughly enjoyable. The wide open spaces of the Festival Theatre seemed just too big, even though the pit had been eliminated, so that extra visual interest was provided by the excellent band located at stalls level, including the conductor, garbed in black period costume, with a long cloak. The designs were after the fashion of Claude or Poussin and the dances simply styled. This was all reminiscent of the vintage Jonathan Miller production of thirty years before, but not as effective. It was nevertheless a great improvement on the Ponnelle version previously brought to the Festival.
