John Brancy portrays Apollo in Charpentier's Orphée

John Brancy shows off some Apollo-esque guns

The ascendant Gotham Chamber Opera will present the New York stage premiere of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux enfers in partnership with the Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Trinity Baroque Orchestra. Apollo, the god of beauty and the sun, will be performed by barihunk John Brancy. Joining him in the cast will be Daniel Curran as Orphée, Jeff Beruan as Pluton, and Jamilyn Manning-White as Eurydice.
 
Charpentier’s 1686 opera retells the story of Orpheus who, upon learning of Eurydice’s sudden death, descends to Hades in order to convince Pluto to allow her to return with him to earth. The story of selfless love and the power of music to overcome death is being staged by Andrew Eggert at St. Paul’s Chapel near the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. Costume designs are by Vita Tzykun, who happens to be the partner of barihunk David Adam Moore.

John Brancy's winning performance at the 2013 Marilyn Horne Song Competition:    

Tickets and additional information is available online.

Charpentier (1643-1704) was one the most important French composers of his generation and a premiere composer of French oratorios. His work is marked by its lyricism, skilled polyphony, and sensitive use of harmonic resources. In addition to his oratorios and sixteen operas, Charpentier composed 12 masses, elaborate motets with chorus, a Te Deum, a Magnificat and other works.



In 2014, Brancy can be seen as Harlequin in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos with Pacific Opera Victoria and Sonora in Puccini's La Fanciulla del West with Oper Frankfurt.