Rolando Villazón has joins forces with period instrument ensemble L’Arpeggiata and its founder-director Christina Pluhar to present an album inspired by the myth of Orpheus. The recording is based on a conceptual program devised by Pluhar which the artists have also performed live to great acclaim. Villazón sings excerpts from Monteverdi’s Orfeo and operas on the same subject by Gluck, Peri and Sartorio, as well as 20th-century songs by Carlos Gardel and Luis Bonfá. Directed by Pluhar from the theorbo or Baroque harp, L’Arpeggiata also weave instrumental works by lesser-known Renaissance and Baroque Italian composers into their Orpheus narrative. “In an inner journey of the soul,” explains Pluhar, “Orpheus tells us about falling in love, the huge joy of his wedding day, the terrible grief unleashed by Eurydice’s death, his desire to save her, and his final farewell to her.” Villazón vividly conveys every emotion Orpheus experiences with beauty and sincerity. “For me,” says the singer, “Orpheus is much more than a mythical figure – he is a mirror of our deepest human truths. Every time I embody him on stage, I am struck by the purity of his fragility and the strength he finds through music. He teaches us to embrace longing as a source of beauty, and to believe in the miraculous power of music to keep love alive.”