
The Goethe Choir is excited to announce a semi-staged performance of Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas—one of the most significant works in the Baroque opera repertoire —at the Civic Theatre, Tallaght on Tuesday 20 May at 7.30pm. Adapted from Virgil’s Aeneid it tells the tragic love story of Dido, the Queen of Carthage, and Aeneas, a Trojan hero.
The cast is led by Irish mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty—with her ‘velvety expressive voice’ (The Journal of Music) and the ‘richly varied’ and ‘powerful’ (Bachtrack) Irish baritone Benjamin Russell in the two title roles, supported by rising young soprano Hannah Gries and popular Irish soprano Katy Kelly. The performance also features dancer, actor and theatre-maker Stephanie Dufresne, internationally acclaimed classical guitarist Perry Schack and the Lumiere Quartet—led by Irish Baroque Orchestra leader Claire Duff. All will be under the baton of the choir’s musical director John Dexter.
Henry Purcell (1659–1695)—‘the English Orpheus’—was organist of Westminster Abbey and the royal composer to three English kings: Charles II, James II and William III. Though most prolific as a songwriter—composing more than 100 secular songs and about 40 duets—he also developed an interest in writing music for the theatre.
Based on a libretto by the Irish-born playright and adapter Nahum Tate, the work focuses on the ill-fated love affair between Aeneas, once a Prince, now leader of a refugee fleet of survivors from the fall of Troy and Dido, founding ruler (and future goddess) of the city of Carthage. The opera is structured in a prologue and three acts.
Tickets costing €35 (plus €2 booking fee) may be booked online at https://www.civictheatre.ie/whats-on/goethe-choir/