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24-527: HCO presents a variety of performances, including annual staged operas at the Agassiz Theatre and recitals. Prior to the 2014 season, the company performed its annual operas in Dunster House. Harvard College Opera is governed by a Board of Operators composed of approximately twenty students. The Board of Operators selects a shortlist of operas for the music and stage directors, also selected by

48-459: A frequent contributor of musical criticism and other writings to The New York Review of Books , among other publications. His debut book, The Impossible Art was published in 2021 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux . Eurydice (Aucoin) Eurydice is an opera composed by Matthew Aucoin with a libretto by Sarah Ruhl based on her 2003 play of the same name , a retelling of the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice . It had its premiere at

72-549: A letter to Orpheus, lays it on the ground, and steps into the river of forgetfulness. Orpheus arrives and sees her, but then the shower robs him of his memory. He finds the letter she wrote him, but does not know how to read it. The critical reaction to the opera's Los Angeles premiere was varied. Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times said the opera is "ambitious, confident, often impressive, mostly engaging, instrumentally colorful and splendidly singable. At its best, it

96-451: A letter, but does not know how to get it to her; he decides he might give it to a worm. It flutters down to the underworld, where her father reads it to her. The name of Orpheus helps her to regain her memory and recognize her father. Orpheus then lowers the collected works of Shakespeare on a string, and her father reads it to her, helping her to relearn language. Orpheus resolves to go to the underworld and bring Eurydice back. He sings outside

120-419: A long flight of stairs to her death in the underworld. The three Stones, a kind of Greek chorus , explain that Eurydice has crossed the river of forgetfulness (which is portrayed as a shower in the elevator descending to the underworld), and now has no memory and no power of language. Her father greets her, but she does not know who he is. In the land of the living, Orpheus mourns Eurydice's death and writes her

144-503: Is a 2018 MacArthur Fellow . Aucoin was born and raised in the Boston area. While attending Medfield High School, Aucoin was the keyboardist in an indie rock band, Elephantom. He attended Harvard College , where he studied poetry, graduating summa cum laude in 2012. His mentors at Harvard included Jorie Graham and Helen Vendler. While an undergraduate, Aucoin conducted productions of Die Fledermaus and Le Nozze di Figaro with

168-629: Is a little jewel." The Met performed the opera a total of seven times that season. The fourth performance, on December 4, was videocast live as part of the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series and also broadcast on the Metropolitan Opera Radio network and SiriusXM. An HD video recording of that performance is available for streaming at Met Opera on Demand. The final performance of the opera that season (December 16)

192-621: Is an American composer, conductor, pianist, and writer best known for his operas. Aucoin has received commissions from the Metropolitan Opera , Carnegie Hall , Lyric Opera of Chicago , the American Repertory Theater , the Peabody Essex Museum , Harvard University , and NPR 's This American Life . He was appointed as Los Angeles Opera 's first-ever Artist-in-Residence in 2016. He

216-411: Is being tricked and that it not really Orpheus she is following, she calls out his name. He turns around and she is pulled back to the underworld. Meanwhile, her father, desolate at losing her, dips himself in the river of forgetfulness. Eurydice, returning after her second death, finds that her father now has no memory or power of speech. Hades declares that he will take Eurydice as his bride. She writes

240-750: Is generally entirely composed of Harvard undergraduates, though the company has occasionally featured undergraduates at the Boston Conservatory and New England Conservatory, students at the Harvard graduate schools, and recent graduates of Harvard College. Past members of the company include composers Benjamin P. Wenzelberg, Matthew Aucoin and Joel Derfner , baritone Davóne Tines , mathematician and chessmaster Noam Elkies , and businesswoman Randi Zuckerberg . Official website Matthew Aucoin Matthew Aucoin (born April 4, 1990)

264-457: Is gratifying grand opera." Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times suggested that Aucoin may have been too deferential to Ruhl's play, so that "the musical language of Eurydice is at times curiously tame." He added that "the opera's boldest stroke" is the creation of a double for Orpheus, so that the main character is portrayed as an "everyday guy" who has a gift for music, with a godlike dimension signified by his double. Jim Farber wrote in

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288-679: The Orange County Register that the production was "a triumph – musically, visually and vocally." Matthew Richard Martinez, writing for Bachtrack , noted that the creators (composer Aucoin, librettist Ruhl, and director Zimmerman) are all recipients of the MacArthur "Genius" grant and said that "Given the brilliance of the piece's music, its moving and unique take on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, and its deft execution, three 'geniuses' make for one captivating opera." Eurydice

312-681: The Alabama Symphony ; the song cycle Merrill Songs , premiered by tenor Paul Appleby at Carnegie Hall with the composer at the piano; and the violin sonata Its Own Accord , premiered by violinist Keir GoGwilt. In 2016, Aucoin was appointed Artist-in-Residence at Los Angeles Opera. Between 2016 and 2020, Aucoin conducted a number of productions in Los Angeles, including Verdi's Rigoletto , Philip Glass's Akhnaten , and his own operas Crossing and Eurydice . Co-written with librettist Sarah Ruhl , Aucoin's opera Eurydice

336-552: The Los Angeles Opera on February 1, 2020, with Aucoin conducting. It had its Metropolitan Opera premiere on November 23, 2021. The work was co-commissioned and co-produced by the Metropolitan Opera , and was mostly written while Aucoin was serving as the Los Angeles Opera's artist in residence. The Los Angeles Times noted that this production, "the world's newest major opera", is on the same subject as

360-574: The Metropolitan Opera Radio via the Met's Sirius XM channel . Zachary Woolfe , who reviewed the performance for The New York Times , praised Ruhl's libretto, but felt that Aucoin's music and scoring overwhelmed the story. Still, he thought it was a "a clearer, stronger work" than Aucoin's previous opera, Crossing (2015), and noted that "the dancing at Orpheus and Eurydice's wedding, a hint of pop music glimpsed through ominous shadows,

384-591: The American Repertory Theater for the opera Crossing , based on Walt Whitman's Civil War diaries, and from Lyric Opera of Chicago for the children's opera Second Nature . Both operas had their premieres in 2015. In 2015 and 2016, a number of Aucoin's chamber and orchestral works had their premieres, including Evidence at the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra ; his Piano Concerto , featuring pianist Conor Hanick and

408-451: The Board, to decide from for each production. In keeping with the company's mission of providing opportunities to undergraduates, the music and stage directors are always students at Harvard College. The annual operas produced by HCO involve around 80 undergraduates in the cast, staff, and orchestra. To provide opera performance opportunities to students of a liberal arts institution, the cast

432-688: The Dunster House Opera Society, now known as Harvard College Opera . Aucoin then received a graduate diploma from The Juilliard School , where he studied with composer Robert Beaser . Concurrently, he served as an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera . Between 2013 and 2015, Aucoin was the Solti Conducting Apprentice at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra , where he studied with Riccardo Muti. In 2013, he received commissions from

456-448: The beach. Orpheus proposes to Eurydice and she accepts. Her deceased father is seen in the underworld , writing a letter to her and wondering how to get it delivered. At her wedding, Eurydice steps outside and expresses a wish to see more interesting people. A mysterious "interesting man" appears and invites her to his apartment. After giving her champagne, he shows her the letter from her father. She tries to grab it but trips and falls down

480-468: The gate and rouses Hades , the lord of the underworld, who was the "interesting man" she met just before her death. Orpheus tells Hades that he is determined to take Eurydice back to the land of the living. Hades explains that she can follow him, but he must not look back to see if she is there; if he does she will be lost to him forever. Eurydice is fearful and does not want to leave her father, but he insists she must return with her husband. Afraid that she

504-765: The pianist Kirill Gerstein , the Brentano Quartet , the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra , tenor Paul Appleby, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo , Zurich's Tonhalle Orchestra , and Chanticleer . He has appeared as a conductor with the Los Angeles Opera, the Santa Fe Opera , the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony , and many other ensembles. As a writer, Aucoin is

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528-407: The world's oldest surviving opera, Jacopo Peri 's Euridice , which premiered 420 years earlier in 1600. This opera retells the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice from Eurydice's point of view. Ruhl explained that "in the myth, we never hear from Eurydice – she is always a cipher. I'm interested in her voice, a voice that hasn't been heard before." Orpheus, a musician, and Eurydice are playing on

552-774: Was co-commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera and the Los Angeles Opera. It had its world premiere in Los Angeles in February 2020, conducted by the composer and starring Danielle de Niese . Eurydice had its Met premiere in November 2021, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and starring Erin Morley . In 2017, Aucoin co-founded the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC) together with the director Zack Winokur. Aucoin has also written instrumental music for such artists and ensembles as The Philadelphia Orchestra ,

576-400: Was given its Metropolitan Opera premiere on November 23, 2021. The cast included Erin Morley as Eurydice, Joshua Hopkins as Orpheus, Jakub Józef Orliński as Orpheus's double, Barry Banks as Hades, and Nathan Berg as Eurydice's father; the conductor was the company's music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin , and the stage director was Mary Zimmerman . The performance was broadcast live by

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