Dido and Aeneas

Few are aware that the most important English opera before Benjamin Britten suffered a laborious desert crossing before attaining the status attributed to it today:  the original score survived partially thanks to its re-founding in a subsequent Masque (dramatic entertainment) entitled The Loves of Mars and Venus.  We do not know what sorts of adaptations or additions the piece underwent but it is estimated that the reduction involved at least a quarter of the original music. Nonetheless this was no impediment for it to become one of the 18th century’s most staged operas in our times and its greatest aria – Dido’s Lament - has become the most emblematic expression of dying of love along with the no less acclaimed “Liebestod” of Tristan und Isolde.

Its London premiere in 1689 at Josias Priest’s - an English dancer and instructor - Chelsea School for Young Ladies is a reason to approach the work from a choreographic perspective.  In this way, after the version of Sasha Waltz at the Teatro Real in 2019, this is a new production by Blanca Li, Artistic Director of Teatros del Canal, a brilliant choreographer and pioneer in using virtual reality in dance, long experienced in a remarkable variety of dance styles from Baroque to hip-hop.

Tragic opera in three acts and a prologue

Music by Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Libretto by Nahum Tate, based on his work brutus or the enchanted lovers (1678) and book IV of the Aeneid (1 B.C.) by Virgil

Premiere at Mr. Josias Priest’s Boarding School for Young Ladies, Chelsea 

Premiere in concert version at the Teatro Real, 18 November 2013 

New production of the Teatro Real and Teatros del Canal in coproduction with the Royal Opera of Versailles, Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona, Imperial Theater of Compiegne and Les Arts Florissants

Artistic team

Musical Conductor | William Christie

Stage Director and Choreographer | Blanca Li

Stage Designer and Writer | Pierre Attrair 

Costume Designer| Laurent Mercier 

Lighting Designer | Caty Olive

Video Designer | Charles Carcopino

Dancers | Compañía Blanca Li

Set design and creation of Matière-Lumière: Evi Keller

Costumes in collaboration with Evi Keller: Laurent Mercier

Cast

Dido | Lea Desandre 

Belinda | Ana Vieira Leite 

Eneas / Enchantress | Renato Dolcini

Sailor | Jacob Lawrence 

Witches | Maud Gnidzaz 

              Virginie Thomas

Chorus and Orchestra Les Arts Florissants