Henry Purcell’s ‘Dido & Aeneas’ performed by the Oxford Girls’ Choir with baroque costume and dance, accompanied by the Oxford Baroque Players on period instruments.

6.00pm cast:
Dido: Felicity Souter
Belinda: Sophie Hazell
Sorceress: Ruby Reed-Berendt
Aeneas: Ben Reed-Berendt

8.15pm cast:
Dido: Rosalind Dobson
Belinda: Margaret Lingas
Sorceress: Elizabeth Dobson
Aeneas: Ben Reed-Berendt

Conductor: Rory McCleery
Directed by Elizabeth Dobson and Ruby Reed-Berendt

Purcell’s ‘Dido & Aeneas’ is the first great opera in the English language, based on Virgil’s story of the betrayal of Dido, Queen of Carthage, by Aeneas, Prince of Troy. The action switches between Dido’s court and the cave where the Sorceress plots her downfall. The final aria is Dido’s famous lament ‘When I am laid in earth’. This production is based on the 1689 performance at “Mr Josiah Priest’s Boarding School at Chelsey, by Young Gentlewomen”. Running time is about an hour.