It is rare these days to attend an opera performance where the vocal and dramatic interpretation of an opera takes center stage over the physical production. But that is exactly what happened at the 2009 opening night telecast of Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo from La Scala at the Loft Cinema on March 14th, 2010. With early opera expert and conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini in the pit, it was a pleasure to sit in the audience and take in all the musical beauties Monteverdi and his librettist Alessandro Striggio put into this 1607 masterpiece.

Except for the role of Orfeo, all the singers were Italian which added to the wonderful elocution and heartfelt expression so abundant in Striggio’s classically limned text. The performance seemed to roll on effortlessly, buoyed by the clean yet passionate instrumental harmony that is one of the many facets of Monteverdi’s genius.

The opera’s simple story line is culled from Ovid’s Metamorphoses and tells of Orpheus and his descent into the underworld to return his beloved Eurydice to life after she has been bitten by a poisonous snake and died. Orpheus, however, is warned by Plutone, lord of the underworld, not to look at Eurydice on their return journey back to earth. But Orpheus is overcome by the strength of his love for Eurydice and turns to look at her and loses her again. The god Apollo appears to Orpheus and takes him to heaven so that he can be reunited with his beloved.

This classic story easily fit into the intimate picture director Robert Wilson wanted to portray on stage. The set consisted of a row of Cypress trees on stage right and left. The costumes were mostly gray and off-whites for the shepherds and the dancing nymphs. For contrast, costumer Jacques Reynaud dressed Music in gold, Orfeo and Eurydice in black, Hope in dark blue, and Apollo in a deep red. Wilson kept the staging and lighting focused on the singers.

Because of Wilson’s approach, the telecast proved far more effective than the actual performance in the house. When the camera surveyed La Scala’s large auditorium and the orchestra pit and then moved back to the performers on stage, the contrast, between the video director’s close-ups and leisurely panning shots with the full-house shots, clearly favored Wilson’s intent. This also complemented Monteverdi’s solo song accompaniment called monody that Alessandrini conducted with graceful and precise tempi.

All this led to an exquisite vocal refinement in the delivery of the text. Whatever dramatic expression was needed – plaintive, joyful, or purposeful story-telling, the cast encompassed it all.

Sopranos Roberta Invernizzi and Sara Mingardo are well-known in opera circles for their baroque and early baroque roles. Both Invernizzi, as Music, who introduces the opera, and as Eurydice, and Mingardo, as the Messenger who brings the news of Eurydice’s death to Orfeo, and then as Hope who accompanies him to the entrance to the underworld, interpreted their roles combining accurate intonation and excellent textual delivery.

Mezzo-soprano Raffaella Milanesi established an immediate emotional connection with Proserpine as she pleaded with Plutone to save Eurydice. Luigi De Donato’s terse vocals as Charon clearly showed his displeasure with Orfeo’s journey to find Eurydice, and Furio Zanasi’s Apollo related his joyful news that Orfeo will be reunited with Eurydice with vocal poise. Luca Dordolo, Leonardo Cortellazzi, and Martin Oro as the three shepherds brought great vocal style to their on-going comments about Orfeo’s journey.

While Georg Nigi’s vocal production did not match the innate warmth of the rest of the cast, his stage presence and vocal execution brought a touching nobility to Orfeo’s realization of his fatal error and then his salvation.

Audience consensus acknowledged the singing as the outstanding feature of the performance.