EMV is thrilled to launch our 2026 Summer Festival with Claudio Monteverdi’s opera Orfeo in a bold and ambitious fully staged production. When Orfeo’s beloved wife Euridice dies suddenly on the night of their wedding, he decides to journey deep into the underworld to bring her back, equipped only with the power of his music. While some operas were composed and performed before the 1607 premiere of Orfeo, Monteverdi was the first to reveal the genre’s true dramatic and musical potential. It remains one of the most powerful and influential works in the operatic canon. This production is directed by baroque performance expert Guillaume Bernardi and conducted by Pacific Baroque Orchestra Director Alexander Weimann. With a dozen singers on stage, an orchestra full of rarely heard 17th century instruments in the pit, and the incredible beauty of titular star Marc Mauillon’s singing, Orfeo promises to be a special event for lovers of early music, opera, and the eternal power of storytelling.