The Santa Fe Opera announces former Apprentice Singer Luke Sutliff will perform the role of Orfeo on opening night, July 29, stepping in for Rolando Villazón

The Santa Fe Opera announces former Apprentice Singer Luke Sutliff will perform the role of Orfeo on opening night, July 29, stepping in for Rolando Villazón

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Santa Fe, NM — The Santa Fe Opera announces baritone Luke Sutliff will perform the title role in Orfeo on opening night, Saturday, July 29. Mr. Sutliff steps in for tenor Rolando Villazón who sustained a minor injury during the final dress rehearsal on July 27 and has been prescribed four days of rest. The Santa Fe Opera expects Mr. Villazón will resume the run of performances from August 2 through 24. Says Rolando Villazón “I am absolutely gutted to miss tomorrow’s performance but I must follow the doctor’s orders in order to avoid any lasting damage to my back. I am doing everything I can in order to be well enough to perform from August 2 onwards. The rehearsal process has been such a joy and I cannot wait to perform Monteverdi’s music in Nico Muhly’s astounding orchestration and Yuval Sharon’s exceptional staging. I wish the entire cast and crew toi toi toi for tomorrow.”

About Luke Sutliff
A former Santa Fe Opera Apprentice singer, Luke Sutliff made his company debut as Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2021 and last season performed the role of El Dancaïro in Carmen. In 2024 he will return as Belcore in a Stephen Lawless production of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love originating from 2009. Mr. Sutliff is a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio where he sang the role of Harvey in Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers, Brühlmann in Werther, Sciarrone in Tosca, and A Cappadocian in Salome. He made his house debut as El Dancaïro in Rob Ashford’s production of Carmen. He later performed the roles of Thierry and M. Javelinot in Dialogues of the Carmelites and Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette. The singer recently received the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation. He also received the Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation and a Career Development Grant from The Sullivan Foundation. He is also the First Place winner of The 7th Annual Saengerbund Awards. In 2021 he was a finalist in the 33rd Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition at HGO and a District Winner in The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Mr. Sutliff graduated from The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University with a Master of Music in the studio of Stephen King and received his Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School under the tutelage of the late Sanford Sylvan.

About Orfeo
Rounding out the 2023 Festival Season on July 29 is Nico Muhly’s world premiere orchestration of one of opera’s earliest written and regularly performed works, Monteverdi’s seminal Orfeo. Says Muhly, “For me, the main challenge in re-orchestrating Orfeo is realizing the continuo parts; everything needs to be, note-for-note, the same as the original, but with a modern musician’s sensibility about embellishment and ornament. Here, I’m trying to use color and timbre to achieve this, where the continuo has a more explicit relation to the plot: a sense of textural allure from the pit.”

Adds Music Director Harry Bicket, “The first 20th-century revivals of this piece, which at the time had not been performed in 300 years, were all contemporary orchestrations of the score by composers such as d’Indy, Hindemith, Casella and Berio. The Santa Fe Opera is following that tradition by commissioning an unashamedly 21st-century look at a 17th-century opera seen through the prism of a composer who includes among his influences the music of Byrd, Handel and Gibbons.”

Mirroring this contemporary approach to the work, the direction is in the hands of MacArthur Foundation grant winner Yuval Sharon in his company debut. He is joined by a notable team, including returning Costume Designer Carlos J Soto and Sound Designer Mark Grey. The rest make Santa Fe Opera debuts: Alex Schweder and Matthew Johnson give us the visual environment and Yuki Nakase Link and Hana S. Kim provide the lighting and projection designs, respectively. 

One of the greatest exponents of the title role, superstar tenor Rolando Villazón, makes his company debut alongside soprano Lauren Snouffer who sings the roles of La Musica/Speranza. Mezzo-soprano and former Apprentice singer Paula Murrihy sings La Messaggera, James Creswell is Caronte and baritone Blake Denson is Plutone. Susanne Sheston is the Chorus Master and Rick Sordelet, Christian Kelly-Sordelet and Shireen Yehya serve as Fight and Intimacy Directors.

Orfeo

Music by Claudio Monteverdi
World Premiere Orchestration by Nico Muhly*
Libretto by Alessandro Striggio
Premiered 24 February 1607, Carnival of Mantua, Mantua

A Company Premiere and New Santa Fe Opera Production
5 Performances — July 29; August 2, 11, 16 & 24
Sung in Italian with opera titles in English and Spanish
Run time: Approximately 1 hour 40 minutes without intermission
Please be advised: This production contains mist, strobing effects, and bright light beams. 

Production support generously provided by
The Avenir Production Fund
Additional artistic support provided by