Film of Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice (1762 Vienna Version)
Bejun Mehta was recently in the Czech Republic shooting a new movie version of Gluck’s Orfeo. Bejun is both the eponymous hero of the piece as well as being the artistic advisor for the project. The film will be released in the Summer of 2014 to coincide with the tercentenary of Gluck’s birth.

Director: Ondrej Halvelka
Director of Photography: Jan Malíř
Sound Design: Andreas Neubronner
Producer: Herbert G. Kloiber
A Clasart Classic production

Euridice: Eva Liebau
Amore: Regula Mühlemann
Collegium 1704, Vaclav Luks, conductor

Label: Arthaus Music
Release date: May 2014

This is not a film of a staged opera production for a public audience. This is an opera production designed specifically for film. There was no audience, all takes were sung live, and the entire spectrum of the theatre was used, including the backstage space, the flyspace, hallways, cellars, and the auditorium itself.

The film was shot entirely on location in the historic Baroque Theatre of the Český Krumlov Castle. The theatre dates from 1680, and maintains today the stage equipment and machinery from the 1765-66 renovation, making it one of the oldest functioning Baroque theatres in the world. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.