We go behind the scenes at rehearsals for William Kentridge\u2019s new staging of Monteverdi\u2019s 1607 opera l\u2019Orfeo<\/p>\n
\u2018L\u2019Orfeo is an opera about opera. It\u2019s an opera about the power of music. It\u2019s about the power of art to construct the world,\u201d says director and artist William Kentridge. Claudio Monteverdi\u2019s 1607 work is, if not quite the first ever opera, the earliest opera still performed today, written when the form was in its very infancy.<\/p>\n
Monteverdi called his work \u2013 composed for performance at the ducal court of Mantua, a \u201cfavola in musica \u2013 legend in music\u201d. \u201cMonteverdi was a genius,\u201d says conductor Jonathan Cohen. \u201cThe piece is about the world\u2019s most famous musician. He begins with a prologue where he has the allegorical character of La Musica [Music, here sung by Francesca Aspromonte, who also sings Eurydice in this production], who says \u2018I am music, and I have the power to stop the birds singing, the power over nature.\u2019 And of course Orfeo, the musician, has the power to control even the rocks, the trees, the animals and effect human emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n
William Kentridge (centre) during rehearsals, above<\/em>, and, below, <\/em>Kentridge talks with Francesca Aspromonte (La Musica\/Euridice) and Roseline Wilkens (Euridice).<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/aaa953d08981c1a4fe92af55739257c873e89e71\/465_277_2844_2277\/master\/2844.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=5724855916df7c26c18bede94fa96d98\" "\\"\u2018It\u2019s")
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