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Orpheus Undone
Missy Mazzoli

American composer and pianist, Missy Mazzoli, was born in Lansdale, PA on October 27, 1980. She studied at the Yale School of Music, the Royal Conservatory of the Hague and Boston University. Her teachers have been David Lang, Louis Andriessen, Aaron Jay Kernis, Martin Bresnick, Martijn Padding, and John Harbison. Having previously taught at Yale, she is now a member of the composition faculty at the Mannes College of Music. Mazzoli has received critical acclaim for her chamber, orchestral and operatic work. She is also the founder and keyboardist for Victoire, an electro-acoustic band dedicated to performing her music. Her music is published by G. Schirmer. Mazzoli also served as Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Chautauquans are especially excited about her new opera, Lincoln in the Bardo, which was workshopped at the Chautauqua Institution during the 2025 season, and which will be performed this Fall at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. The opera is based on the award-winning novel by George Saunders with a libretto by longtime collaborator Royce Vavrek. Orpheus Undone is a Suite derived from Mazzoli’s 2019 ballet, Orpheus Alive, and was commissioned in 2020 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The Suite comprises two sections and is scored for 2 flutes (piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons (contrabassoon), 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, percussion, piano, harp, and strings.


Missy Mazzoli’s 2019 ballet, Orpheus Alive, is a reimagination of the myth about the Thracian demigod, composed in collaboration with choreographer Robert Binet and playwright Rosamund Small. According to a program note on the composer’s website, the ballet “turns the traditional Orpheus myth on its head; Orpheus is a woman who creates the ballet as it unfolds around her. She creates a stunning offering to the audience, who have been cast as the gods of the underworld, ready to decide her fate.” Interestingly, American composer, Matthew Aucoin, premiered an opera in 2019 entitled Eurydice, a work that also offers another fresh perspective on the Orpheus myth. Indeed several of the earliest operas from the late 16th and early 17th centuries dealt with the same subject, most notably Claudio Monteverdi’s Orfeo of 1609.


Orpheus Undone comprises two movements entitled, respectively, Part 1: Behold the Machine (O Death) and Part 2: We of Violence, We Endure. They follow one another without pause. The titles are derived from two of the fifty-five sonnets written in 1922 by poet Rainer Maria Rilke entitled Sonnets to Orpheus. The first part of the work depicts and interprets the moment in the Orpheus myth in which Eurydice, Orpheus’ betrothed, dies due to a serpent’s bite. The second part concerns Orpheus’ decision to descend into the underworld to retrieve Eurydice. As the composer explains, “this work explores the baffling and surreal stretching of time in moments of trauma or agony.”


Program Note by David B. Levy, ©2026


Orpheus Undone
Missy Mazzoli

American composer and pianist, Missy Mazzoli, was born in Lansdale, PA on October 27, 1980. She studied at the Yale School of Music, the Royal Conservatory of the Hague and Boston University. Her teachers have been David Lang, Louis Andriessen, Aaron Jay Kernis, Martin Bresnick, Martijn Padding, and John Harbison. Having previously taught at Yale, she is now a member of the composition faculty at the Mannes College of Music. Mazzoli has received critical acclaim for her chamber, orchestral and operatic work. She is also the founder and keyboardist for Victoire, an electro-acoustic band dedicated to performing her music. Her music is published by G. Schirmer. Mazzoli also served as Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Chautauquans are especially excited about her new opera, Lincoln in the Bardo, which was workshopped at the Chautauqua Institution during the 2025 season, and which will be performed this Fall at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. The opera is based on the award-winning novel by George Saunders with a libretto by longtime collaborator Royce Vavrek. Orpheus Undone is a Suite derived from Mazzoli’s 2019 ballet, Orpheus Alive, and was commissioned in 2020 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The Suite comprises two sections and is scored for 2 flutes (piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons (contrabassoon), 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, percussion, piano, harp, and strings.


Missy Mazzoli’s 2019 ballet, Orpheus Alive, is a reimagination of the myth about the Thracian demigod, composed in collaboration with choreographer Robert Binet and playwright Rosamund Small. According to a program note on the composer’s website, the ballet “turns the traditional Orpheus myth on its head; Orpheus is a woman who creates the ballet as it unfolds around her. She creates a stunning offering to the audience, who have been cast as the gods of the underworld, ready to decide her fate.” Interestingly, American composer, Matthew Aucoin, premiered an opera in 2019 entitled Eurydice, a work that also offers another fresh perspective on the Orpheus myth. Indeed several of the earliest operas from the late 16th and early 17th centuries dealt with the same subject, most notably Claudio Monteverdi’s Orfeo of 1609.


Orpheus Undone comprises two movements entitled, respectively, Part 1: Behold the Machine (O Death) and Part 2: We of Violence, We Endure. They follow one another without pause. The titles are derived from two of the fifty-five sonnets written in 1922 by poet Rainer Maria Rilke entitled Sonnets to Orpheus. The first part of the work depicts and interprets the moment in the Orpheus myth in which Eurydice, Orpheus’ betrothed, dies due to a serpent’s bite. The second part concerns Orpheus’ decision to descend into the underworld to retrieve Eurydice. As the composer explains, “this work explores the baffling and surreal stretching of time in moments of trauma or agony.”


Program Note by David B. Levy, ©2026