Eurydice

By Sarah Ruhl. Produced by Oceanside Theatre Company. Directed by Dhyana Dahl. Composition by Paul Durso.

For Eurydice, the idea was to have a live band perform a score and have the band members and instruments incorporated into the set, and have the actors acknowledge and interact with us. I composed the music on guitar and piano, and was joined on stage by Elle Dodaro on violin and Bryon Andersen on percussion. 

A stately, driving theme was written for the character of Orpheus, in which he would join the band on guitar. For the character of Eurydice, I composed a frail and tragic piano piece using Arvo Pärt’s tintinnabuli composition style, which became a flowing conversation between actor and musician every night. To compliment the mystical qualities of the scenes set in the Underworld, I chose to send microphones on the felt-modified piano to a pitch-shifted reverb which spread the affected sound far around the room.