02.05.2026

JULIAN PRÉGARDIEN as Orfeo in a new production in Schwetzingen

This year’s Schwetzingen Festival is centred on a major new production: Claudio Monteverdi’s *L’Orfeo*. The title role is performed by Julian Prégardien, who in recent years has established himself as a versatile performer across the genres of lied, classical and Baroque music.

The production in Schwetzingen promises a fresh take on the mythological material. In the intimate Rococo theatre, the production is likely to focus particularly strongly on the psychological dimension of the character: Orfeo not merely as a singer, but as a man driven by existential turmoil, torn between hope and loss.

Prégardien’s approach to the role can already be gleaned from his recording with Les Épopées under Stéphane Fuget. There, his interpretation was described as unusually daring: ranging from fragile intimacy to expressive outbursts, it at times prioritises dramatic authenticity over ideals of vocal beauty.

It is precisely this willingness to take artistic risks that could lend the Schwetzingen production its particular tension. Thus, ‘Orfeo’ is presented here not as a museum piece, but as living musical theatre that makes the character’s emotional extremes immediately palpable.