Claudio Monteverdi: L'Orfeo [DVD Video]

L'Orfeo features a filmed record of a live performance of composer Claudio Monteverdi's titular opera, produced at the Amsterdam Opera in 1997 and performed in Italian. Pierre Audi handles the stage direction, Stephen Stubbs the musical direction; John Mark Ainsley performs as Orfeo, Juanita Lascarro as Euridice, and Russell Smythe as Apollo. The story is as Monteverdi originally penned it, with its tale of the title character's attempt to rescue his bride, Euridice, from imprisonment in the underworld, his ill-advised decision to look back over his shoulder at her during their ascension from Apollo's realm, and Euridice's consequent death.