Soprano Hannah De Priest on Peri’s Euridice and the first “Hayberry” collaboration

In October, I was honored to join the ensemble cast of Jacopo Peri’s Euridice in a landmark joint production by The Newberry Consort and Haymarket Opera Company. This marked the first collaboration between these pillars of the Chicago early-music community and it was so exciting to be part of the big team effort to bring Peri’s unique musical and dramatic style to audiences in Chicago and Evanston. 

A Landmark and Personally Significant Collaboration

This project was particularly meaningful to me because I am lucky to have long relationships with both The Newberry Consort and Haymarket Opera. When I was fresh out of school and new to the city, Ellen Hargis and David Douglass (then the artistic co-directors of The Newberry Consort) gave me my first real job: managing the Consort behind the scenes. I learned so much about the creative and financial intricacies of artistic planning, marketing, and fundraising from them. While I was an administrative hire, Ellen also gave me performance opportunities with the Consort that opened important doors for me. I’ve also had the pleasure of singing with the Consort under its current artistic director, Liza Malamut, who continues the Consort’s tradition of presenting inspiring, engaging concerts backed by rigorous research. 

With Haymarket Opera, I’ve performed as a transfigured lover in Francesca Caccini’s sultry Alcina, sung the role of Mary Magdalene in Handel’s Resurrezione under the baton of Maestro Christian Curnyn, and performed at several gala benefits. I’ve sung alongside Haymarket’s artistic director Craig Trompeter in many different contexts over the years and count its general director Chase Hopkins as a close friend. I’m in awe of the amazing work Haymarket has done over the past fifteen years and am always excited to join their ranks. 

Both of these organizations come with incredibly knowledgeable and devoted fans and I’m so grateful for the real and enduring connections I’ve made with the Haymarket and Newberry board members and audiences through my work with both groups. 

All that to say: I was totally thrilled to join this brilliant cast of singers and musicians for the first “Hayberry” production! 

The Appeal of the Orpheus Myth

The myth of Orpheus and his lyre is an enduring favorite of musicians everywhere, centering a musician so skilled that his songs charm the natural and supernatural worlds. Is it any wonder the story has inspired composers for centuries? But Jacopo Peri’s Euridice isn’t just the earliest of the operatic treatments of the Orpheus’story; it has the distinction of being the earliest surviving opera, full stop. In preparing and performing Peri’s Euridice, it became startlingly clear that this work is much more than a musicological curiosity; it is a vital and compelling work of musical drama.

In Peri’s Euridice, the climax of the story has Orfeo convincing Plutone to release Euridice from the underworld. Orfeo’s music (sung with such sensitivity by golden-voiced Scott Brunscheen) pours forth while Plutone and Proserpina (and the audience) listen, enraptured by his vocal beauty and the poignancy of his text. But Orfeo isn’t the only one with a good story to tell! Over the course of the opera, every character gets a moment to step forward and relay some critical aspect of the story. 

Singing the role of Dafne, I got the juicy assignment of announcing to Orfeo that his beloved Euridice has died of a snakebite on the day of their wedding festivities. Interrupting the frivolity of the first act with a searing, guttural cry of “Alas!” Dafne goes on to deliver a tour-de-force monologue, relishing every detail of the fateful event and finally revealing Euridice’s death, recounting her beautiful face immobilized “like ice.” 

The Allure of Opera’s Earliest Roots

Like many singers and fans of early music, my first introduction to the world of Baroque singing was the flashy coloratura writing of Handel and the thorny, long phrases of J. S. Bach. But as I deepened my study of early music, I fell in love with the intoxicating strangeness of 17th-century Italian repertoire. Where the titans of 18th-century virtuosity were masters at spinning long and technically difficult musical phrases from short lines of text, composers like Peri (working from a radically different musical language and set of dramatic priorities) affixed long streams of Italian poetry to melodies that appear simple but are, in fact, extremely harmonically sophisticated and deeply cathartic to sing. 

After some time learning the contours of the melodies, I spent most of my preparation thinking about Dafne’s speech as an actor would approach a classical monologue. I searched for the most important words, images, and the moments where her focus abruptly shifts and she changes narrative course. I considered how I could vary my delivery (speed, vocal weight, color, volume, ornamentation) to signal these different “beats.” The process took me back to my days at drama camp, analyzing and performing Shakespearean sonnets for our student showcase!

In our first Euridice rehearsals, I finally understood the full dramatic power of Peri’s unique and rich harmonic language through the fantastic continuo band assembled for this project. Shout-out to Jason Moy, Jacob Reed, Claire Happel-Ashe, Lucas Harris, Brandon Acker, Adrienne Hyde, and Craig Trompeter on harpsichord, organ, harp, theorbo, lirone, and viol respectively for their highly sensitive and varied interpretation of this incredible music! Within our very short rehearsal period, we were able to troubleshoot and create some really special musical moments. It was an exciting and exhilarating process!

By opening night, I was totally convinced of Peri’s genius but I wasn’t sure what our audiences would make of it. I needn’t have worried: the two sold-out crowds were enchanted. Shawn Keener’s beautifully animated projected images and supertitles helped keep everyone’s focus on the stage, where our big cast and orchestra gave a spirited and memorable account of the world’s first opera.

What I’m Taking with Me

After Euridice, my next gig was a set of Bach cantatas in Seattle. On the surface, a really different kind of singing with its own set of technical and musical demands. But as I worked on my Bach recitatives and arias, I found my approach altered by my time with Peri’s music. Instead of getting caught up solely in the thorny bits of coloratura and the perilous high notes embedded in the recitatives, I was instinctively seeking out the dramatic beats, working less like a neurotic soprano focused on perfect execution and more like a storyteller driven by the text.

This collaborative triumph of Euridice affirms the vital role that partnership and research play in enriching the future of early-music performance. I am so grateful for this profound lesson and I aim to carry this deeper commitment to vocal storytelling into every project I undertake. This experience has not only honored my past with these two organizations but has also brightly illuminated the path forward for my work.

Learn more about Haymarket Opera Company and The Newberry Consort’s 2025 performance of Peri’s Euridice.

About the author

Hannah De Priest is a soprano especially renowned for her “masterful” (Olyrix) performances of Baroque repertoire. Consistently described as a “standout” and praised for her “bright, ideally-focused sound, allied to a probing expressive intelligence” (Chicago Classical Review), the soprano enjoys a fast-rising career in North America and Europe. Her 2025-26 season includes debuts with Music of the Baroque and the Washington Bach Consort, multiple productions with Boston Early Music Festival and Ars Lyrica Houston, and a concert tour of Handelian cantatas with Les Délices. Her debut solo album Arcadian Dreams will be released in spring 2026.

About The Haymarket Review: This new digital publication including thoughts about  the work produced by Haymarket is designed to deepen our connection to audiences, nurture and feed audience curiosity about historical performance, offer critical opinions and thoughtful reflections on our performances, and provide a forum for Haymarket and its audience to connect through sharing insights, opinions, learning, and expertise.