Orpheus Paris' Montmartre) in search of his fortune and ultimately to attempt the rescue of his doomed love. The film adapts a widely known piece from Jacques Offenbach's comedic operetta "Orphée aux enfers" ("Orpheus in the Underworld"), identified with the once-popular can-can music hall dance. Offenbach's operatic work had itself parodied the classical tale of Orpheus' attempted rescue of Eurydice from Pluto (Hades). Gavin Bryars' music for Édouard Lock's full length ballet "Dido and Orfeo" (2011) reworks music from the operas "Dido and Aeneas" (Purcell) and "Orfeo ed Euridice" (Gluck) for a small ensemble of saxophone, viola, cello and piano. Orpheus
The Mask of Orpheus design the sets and costumes for the opera's premiere. The staging was complex, involving suns, rivers, and a flying golden carriage. Each singer wore (and sung through) a mask. Large puppets were created to change proportion on stage. All the masks and costumes were designed to appear timeless, so as to avoid placing the opera in a specific era. The Mask of Orpheus The Mask of Orpheus is an opera with music by Harrison Birtwistle and a libretto by Peter Zinovieff. It was premiered in London at the English National Opera on 21 May 1986 to great critical acclaim. A