First staged in Brisbane in October 2019, the critically acclaimed circus-opera production Orpheus & Eurydice, created by Opera Queensland (OQ) and Circa, and presented by Edinburgh International Festival and Opera Australia, will have its European premiere next month.
The 2025 Edinburgh International Festival, under the artistic leadership of Festival Director Nicola Benedetti and with the theme of ‘The Truth We Seek’, takes over the Scottish capital from 1-24 August. The Festival was established in 1947 with the intent of providing ‘a platform for the flowering of the human spirit’ in the calamitous wake of World War II. In tandem with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, it remains a globally significant cultural event, second only to the Olympics and World Cup in terms of ticketed attendance.
The OQ and Circa co-production Orpheus & Eurydice is one of the headline productions of the 2025 Edinburgh International Festival. It plays the Edinburgh Playhouse from 13-16 August. Circa joins with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and a chorus from Scottish Opera for the European premiere.
Other major productions at next month’s Festival include two world premieres: Scottish Ballet’s retelling of the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots as seen through the dying eyes of Queen Elizabeth I, and Make it Happen, a fictionalised satire about the fall and fail of the former biggest bank in the world – the Royal Bank of Scotland – starring the award-winning Scottish actor Brian Cox (best known for his leading role in television’s Succession).
The world premiere season of Orpheus & Eurydice was a collaborative creation between Yaron Lifschitz, Director of the Brisbane-based contemporary circus company Circa, and Opera Queensland’s Artistic Director and CEO Patrick Nolan.
Based on an enduring myth from ancient Greece about the heartbroken bard and prophet who attempts to rescue his dead’s wife’s shade from the Underworld after her death, the production – featuring contemporary circus skills paired with Christoph Gluck’s 1762 Italian opera – was praised as ‘raw, physical and confronting‘ by The Conversation.
After its Brisbane premiere, the production was picked up by Opera Australia and staged at the 2024 Sydney Festival, where ArtsHub’s Miriam Cosic praised the ‘often-breathtaking movements of Lifschitz’s acrobats … [which] blended seamlessly with the music and the emotional state of the grief-crazed hero’ in her five-star review.
West Australian Opera also staged Orpheus & Eurydice in October that same year.
Orpheus & Eurydice: Patrick Nolan on fusing circus and opera
The idea of fusing opera and contemporary circus was Nolan’s brainchild, who envisioned the collaboration with Circa as OQ’s first ever opera–circus production. Having worked and studied with Lifschitz almost three decades previously at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), the pair soon found common ground, he explains.
‘I was excited about seeing how he would respond to directing an opera. It was just a matter of finding a work that would suit his sensibility and allowing his acrobats to shine alongside the singers. I knew of Yaron’s deep knowledge and passion for music and trusted him to respond deeply to the extraordinary beauty of Gluck’s Orpheus & Eurydice score. Opera must embody emotions; an opera singer does that with their voice, an acrobat does that with their physicality,’ Nolan says.
After the success of Orpheus & Eurydice in 2019, OQ and Circa consequently undertook a further collaboration with 2024’s Dido and Aeneas (2024), which also showcased Lifschitz’s abilities as a director who understands the nuances of opera as well as the physicality of circus.
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‘Yaron’s sensitive direction of both productions has been another crucial element in their success,’ Nolan adds. ‘When Circa and Opera Queensland combine forces there is an alchemy and a certain paradox in the idea of circus performance connecting with the fantastical nature of opera.’
After Edinburgh, Opera Australia’s iteration of Orpheus & Euridyce will be performed at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre from 2-5 December 2025, featuring Orchestra Victoria conducted by Dane Lam.
Visit Edinburgh International Festival’s website for more details about the Scottish season of Orpheus & Eurydice.
