The first-ever opera

Claudio Monteverdi, the 450th anniversary of whose birth was celebrated in 2017, is known as one of the inventors and leading pioneers of opera. His emotionally charged music expressed the passions of the characters in a way that had never been done before – for example in his first opera »L’Orfeo« (1607), which borrows freely from the tragic (love) story of Orpheus and Eurydice and which some regard as the first proper opera in music history. You can now experience a concertante version of that opera at the Elbphilharmonie with none other than star tenor Ian Bostridge in the title role.