Marking a thrilling new collaboration, Haymarket Opera Company and The Newberry Consort will co-produce a concert presentation of Jacopo Peri’s 1600 opera Euridice, the oldest surviving opera. Euridice marks the birth of a revolutionary art form, blending music and poetry to retell the timeless myth of Orpheus.

EURIDICE

Music by Jacopo Peri
Libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini

Co-produced by Haymarket Opera Company and The Newberry Consort

Friday, October 24, 2025 at 7pm
Fullerton Hall at The Art Institute of Chicago
111 S. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60603

Saturday, October 25, 2025 at 3pm
Nichols Concert Hall at Music Institute of Chicago
1490 Chicago Ave, Evanston, IL 60201

Performance length: 2.5 hours, including a 15-minute intermission

Jacopo Peri holds a monumental place in the history of opera as its pioneering figure, often called the "father of opera." Living at the dawn of the Baroque era, Peri laid the foundation for the development of opera as a genre capable of exploring profound human emotions and stories, influencing generations of composers from Monteverdi to Handel and beyond. Our concert presentation of Peri’s Euridice will feature a cast of celebrated artists both familiar and new to Newberry and Haymarket audiences, and an orchestra of expert period instrumentalists assembled from within Chicago’s flourishing early-music scene and beyond.

“Luminous” soprano (Musical America) Erica Schuller and “gracefully shaded tenor” (Gramophone) Scott J. Brunscheen portray the fated lovers Eurydice and Orpheus (Euridice and Orfeo). Eurydice’s confidante Daphne (Dafne), soprano Véronique Filloux, brings news of the nymph’s death to the shepherds—tenors James Reese and Michael St. Peter, and countertenor Ryan Belongie—who lament her untimely demise. Orpheus is led to the underworld by Aphrodite (Venere), mezzo-soprano Christine Boddicker, to beg the gods for Eurydice’s return. Underworld deities Pluto (Plutone) and Proserpine (Proserpina), sung by “riveting” (The New York Times) bass-baritone Jonathan Woody and “impeccable” soprano (L’Opera) Hannah De Priest, will decide Eurydice’s fate.

Haymarket Opera Company Artistic Director Craig Trompeter and The Newberry Consort Artistic Director Liza Malamut lead an ensemble of 17th-century music specialists performing Peri’s elegant score on period instruments including cornetti, sackbuts, recorders, violins, viol, lirone, lutes, organ, and harpsichord.

The Cast

Euridice: Erica Schuller, soprano
Orfeo: Scott J. Brunscheen, tenor
Plutone: Jonathan Woody, bass-baritone
Proserpina: Hannah De Priest, soprano
Arcetro: Ryan Belongie, countertenor
Dafne: Véronique Filloux, soprano
Venere: Christine Boddicker, mezzo-soprano
Tirsi: James Reese, tenor
Aminta: Michael St. Peter, tenor

The Orchestra

Cornetti: Kiri Tollaksen, Bill Baxtresser
Sackbuts: Liza Malamut, Ben David Aronson, Garrett Lahr
Violins: Marty Davids, Jeri-Lou Zike
Recorders: Lisette Kielson, Laura Osterlund Klehr
Harp: Claire Happel-Ashe
Organ: Jacob Reed
Harpsichord: Jason Moy
Theorbos: Lucas Harris, Brandon Acker
Lirone: Adrienne Hyde
Viol: Craig Trompeter