Orpheus with his Lute

The Orpheus theme has been an extremely popular one ever since the first opera in history that has been handed down to us (Peri's Euridice from 1600). Rachel Ann Morgan and Edward Witsenburg have been very successful with performances of this program in innumerable concerts all over Europe at which audiences never stopped asking for a CD of it. The program offers a (limited) survey of composers who were involved with the Orpheus theme from Peri and Monteverdi to those of the 20th century, including settings of a famous Shakespeare text (Orpheus with his lute from Henry VII) by Rubbra, Gabriel and Hundley. But it is also an enchanting program that offers a great deal of musical pleasure because of the truly inspired performances.