Orpheus in the Underworld

IndyBaroque Chamber Players collaborates with Alchymy Viols to present Orpheus and the Underworld. Featuring soprano Kristin Knutson, musical selections depicting the most popular Greek myths of the time, the story of Orpheus who used music to charm his way through the very gates of the Underworld in order to retrieve his bride, killed by a venomous snake on their wedding day. IndyBaroque Chamber Players and Alchymy will perform Clerambault’s version of the legend, Orphée. Also in the program will be the rarely heard suite for three viole da gamba and continuo by Marais and the suite for viola da gamba and small orchestra by Telemann. Baroque strings feature the viola da gamba of Joanna Blendulf, newly appointed professor of viola da gamba and baroque cello at Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music, Historical Performance Institute. In the early 18th century the ethereal, six-string viola da gamba was regarded as the instrument that could most closely approach the musical subtleties of the human voice.