Aucoin’s opera “Eurydice,” aiming to engage with those who have experienced loss

In Sarah Ruhl’s 2003 play Eurydice, “Ruhl’s … reimagining of the Orpheus myth … centers on the perspective of Eurydice,” rites Michael Andor Brodeur in Saturday’s (11/22) Washington Post. “On Tuesday, the operatic adaptation of Ruhl’s play, composed by Matthew Aucoin … makes its Metropolitan Opera premiere…. The perspective of the myth isn’t the only thing that’s different…. The character of Orpheus is split into two singers…. Eurydice … has her sojourn in the underworld further complicated by the appearance of her dead father, …who does not appear in the original myth…. Aucoin considers himself a fan of the long lineage of operatic Eurydices…. He loves the Gluck, he enjoys performing ‘Possente spirto’ from Monteverdi’s ‘L’Orfeo’ and he declares full geek status for Harrison Birtwistle’s mind-bending 1986 opera, ‘The Mask of Orpheus.’ … The opening of ‘Eurydice’ by L.A. Opera in February 2020 … managed to get all six of its performances [in] before the pandemic.… Aucoin [hopes that] bringing ‘Eurydice’ back to life at such grand scale is an effort not just to reimagine the myth [but] ‘serves as a kind of portal for anyone who has experienced loss,’ he says, ‘to engage with it and not flinch and turn away.’ ”