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DIDO AND AENEAS
by Henry Purcell
Concert performance sung in English

Dido Jane Irwin
Belinda Sarah-Jane Davies
Aeneas Roderick Williams
Sorceress Jennifer Johnston
Spirit Reno Troilus

PRIMA LA MUSICA, POI LE PAROLE
by Antonio Salieri
Concert performance sung in Italian
Maestro Roderick Williams
Poet Neal Davies
Donna Eleonora Giselle Allen
Tonina Gillian Keith

Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus
Mark Hindley Chorus Master

Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Nicholas McGegan Conductor

A wonderful opportunity to hear the first operatic masterpiece written in English, Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. A powerhouse of emotion, it follows the doomed love affair between Dido, Queen of Carthage, and the Trojan prince Aeneas. Prima la musica, poi le parole is a comic opera of verve and effervescence in which a musician and a poet argue about the relative importance of their work in the creation of a new opera. This debate is revisited by Richard Strauss two centuries later in his opera Capriccio. Nicholas McGegan, himself an acknowledged authority on baroque opera, leads two superb casts.

What the critics say:

‘Jane Irwin is immensely polished, with silken tone production, beautiful phrasing, admirable control, and perfect musicality.’
- THE INDEPENDENT