‘Orpheus and Euridice’ on stage Jan. 9-10 at WWU

Western Washington University music faculty members Heather Dudenbostel, her husband, Ryan Dudenbostel, and Jay Rozendaal perform fully staged performance of Ricky Ian Gordon’s genre-bending setting of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Euridice Jan. 9 and 10 at WWU’s Performing Arts Center room 16.

The story’s timeless themes of devoted love and the creation of beauty out of suffering are as relevant now as they were thousands of years ago, says Ryan.

A blend of opera, art song and chamber music, Gordon’s contemporary adaptation of the Orphic tragedy, for soprano, clarinet, and piano, translates the myth’s powerful lessons into a modern tale giving both perspective and hope to the problems of our times, he says. The production is about an hour long.

Ryan, who performs clarinet in the production, is director of orchestral studies and is an assistant professor of music at Western; Heather, a soprano, is a voice instructor there, and Rozendaal, a pianist, is a senior instructor in opera and voice.

“This is a work very close to our hearts. When Heather and I were living in New York City, we learned of the piece from our friend Todd Palmer, the clarinetist who originally commissioned Ricky Ian Gordon to write it. With the help of a small production company, Heather and I self-produced a fully staged two-week run of “Orpheus and Euridice” there in 2011, which New York Magazine named as an ‘editor’s pick of the week’ in classical music.”

“We’re thrilled to be able to perform it again here in Bellingham.”

This story was originally published January 6, 2016 at 4:01 PM with the headline "‘Orpheus and Euridice’ on stage Jan. 9-10 at WWU."