Victory Hall Opera to Center Deaf Performers in Production of ‘Orpheus & Eurydice’

By David Salazar

Virginia’s Victory Hall Opera will present a unique rendition of a classic masterwork spotlighting deaf performers.

On March 21, 2023, the company will showcase Gluck’s “Orpheus and Eurydice” at the Old Cabell Hall at the University of Virginia. The work will feature deaf stars Amber Zion and John Maucere as they battle numerous personal challenges at the hands of their doctor Warren “Wawa” Snipe. Within the framework is Gluck’s famed opera with new texts written by Miriam Gordon-Stewart with poetry by Gregory Orr that will be performed in ASL. The opera will be sung in Italian.

As Orpheus and Eurydice, audiences will see Brenda Patterson and Jennifer Zetland with Chuanyuan Liu as Amore.

Alek Lev and Miriam Gordon-Stewart will co-direct while Christine Brandes will conduct the UVA Chamber Singers.

The Victory Hall Opera production is made possible by grants from The Jefferson Trust, the Joseph & Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, the UVA Directors of DEI, a UVA Arts Enhancement Grant from the Office of the Vice-Provost for the Arts, and the UVA ASL Program.

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