Monique Wagemakers

When Eurydice dies on their wedding day, Orpheus, unable to accept her death, descends into the underworld to retrieve her. But as they ascend to the realm of the living, will he be able to refrain from looking back at her, lest he lose her forever? Director Monique Wagemakers, together with choreographer Nanine Linning and artist Lonneke Gordijn (Studio DRIFT), developed the concept for this opera as a contemporary Gesamtkunstwerk that fully integrates stage direction, choreography and design. The costumes of fashion designer Marlou Breuls accentuate and enhance the effect of homogeneity.

When a sharp-tongued court jester Rigoletto is cursed for his spiteful words, he is forced to hide his unworldly daughter Gilda from his own licentious master the Duke. For Verdi’s wonderful ambivalent hunchback, paradise is the peaceful home and family that he struggles to protect.