Greek Music Express: Songs with Symphony Orchestras – Markopoulos’ The Liturgy of Orpheus | 27 Feb 2024

In his lavishly scored oratorio The Liturgy of Orpheus, Yannis Markopoulos combines fragments of Orphic poems with a narrative text by Panos Theodoridis to create a work brimming with melodies, rhythms and instrumental tone colours. The latter include those of guitar, lute, kanonaki, lyre, harp and piano, beside full symphony orchestra, chorus, soloists and narrator. Inspired by “the eloquent silence of ancient texts”, The Liturgy of Orpheus is a remarkable song of the earth that revitalises the myth of the prophet-musician for those who seek the restoration of the natural environment. It is interpreted by baritone Jose Van Dam, Soprano Elena Kelessidi, Narrator Philip Sheffield, and the Flanders Opera Chorus and Symphony Orchestra.