Organization

Conductor

Christian Curnyn

Singer

Mezzo-soprano

Miriam Allan

Second witch

Samuel Boden

tenor

Sarah Connolly

mezzo-soprano

Edward Grint

baritone

Rowan Pierce

soprano

Hilary Summers

Contralto

Early Opera Company

Concertgebouw Brugge

Dido & Aeneas and Actéon in Bruges

Eindhoven

Belgium

Muziekgebouw

Bruges

Dido & Aeneas and Actéon in Bruges: Dido and Aeneas Purcell

Public

Dido and Aeneas

Approved

Early Opera Company Purcell. Dido and Aeneas: Concert Various

Extract from Sento la gioia from Handel's Amadigi recorded by Tim Mead (countertenor) with Dave Hendry (natural trumpet) and the Early Opera Company conducted by Christian Curnyn. The full opera recording will be released in 2022 by Chandos Records.

Heroic prince meets proud queen, the Gods interfere and tragedy ensues – that is the basic premise of Virgil’s version of Dido and Aeneas. In Nahum Tate's libretto, which Purcell set to music in the 1680s, things are somewhat different. In that Dido and Aeneas , a sinister Sorceress lends the fates a helping hand. Spirits easily deceive the Trojan prince Aeneas into abandoning Carthaginian queen Dido and going to Italy, where his descendants found Rome, and Queen Dido herself seems afraid of embracing happiness. All of this tragedy and tension inspired Purcell to compose music so superlative that shortly after his death it became emblematic of British culture. The lament When I am Laid in Earth has even become a modern cult classic.
The Early Opera Company and an array of top soloists combine Purcell's masterpiece with Charpentier's one-act opera Actéon . This tragic pastoral tells the same story as that recounted in the Dido and Aeneas aria ‘ Oft she visits this lone mountain ’. It is based on an episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses .

English

Dido & Aeneas and Actéon in Bruges by Purcell, From (2022/2022), Conductor Christian Curnyn, Muziekgebouw, Eindhoven, Belgium

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

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Programme, About & Synopsis

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