Arts Centre Melbourne has announced that OPERATION:ORFEO – a hypnotic depiction of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice will return to the Ian Potter State Theatre in February 2027, 30 years since its Victorian premiere Victorian in the same venue.
Part opera, part visual artwork, it takes audiences on a descent into the underworld in a work of astonishing precision and beauty. First performed in Melbourne in 1997 as part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival, OPERATION:ORFEO reimagines opera through a striking fusion of music, visual art and performance.
“We are thrilled to welcome OPERATION:ORFEO back to the Ian Potter State Theatre, 30 years after its last performance on our stage,” said Arts Centre Melbourne Executive Director, Performing Arts, Melanie Smith.
“This internationally acclaimed work is a highlight of our 2027 program in the newly refurbished theatre. We look forward to audiences experiencing this powerful and deeply moving fusion of visual art and performance.”
With 2027 director Marie Dahl maintaining the concept and direction of Kirsten Dehlholm (1945-2024), it is one of the most internationally celebrated works in Danish theatre history by renowned company Hotel Pro Forma.
Featuring the Latvian Radio Choir, the work also presents Ib Michael’s sensuous libretto as symphonic a cappella singing, alongside music by Bo Holten, with excerpts from John Cage and Christoph Willibald Gluck.
Replacing conventional narrative with a sequence of powerful images, light, and symphonic voice, OPERATION:ORFEO is arranged like a piece of moving visual art rather than a staged narrative.
“This gut-wrenching beautiful work… teases out key elements of an ancient story, elaborating them into hypnotic patterns based on the true irreducible fundamentals of the theatrical process: bodies moving in time and space… Without a doubt one of the greatest experiences I have ever had in the theatre.” – The Sydney Morning Herald
OPERATION:ORFEO
Ian Potter State Theatre – Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Road, Melbourne
Season: 18 – 20 February 2027
Information and Bookings: www.artscentremelbourne.com.au
Image: OPERATION:ORFEO – photo by Roberto Fortuna