Dido & Aeneas and 500 Years of English Choral Gems

Dido & Aeneas, set to music in the 1680s by baroque composer Henry Purcell, is a tragic love story from Virgil’s epic, The Aeneid. The Queen of Carthage falls for a heroic Trojan Prince, but their union is doomed by duty, ambition, and a mean spell placed on them by interfering witches. Purcell’s music is full of incredible maturity for the 19 year old composer, and the closing aria, Dido’s lament, is especially well known. The VPC and soloists are accompanied by a chamber orchestra, featuring period instrument specialists, including Douglas Hensley on theorbo.

The second half of the evening skips here and there in several other centuries of the repertoire, and includes The King Shall Rejoice, one of Handel’s Coronation Anthems, and short works by Tavener, Moore, Holst and an 8-part choral setting of the Nimrod movement of Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

Festival seating; doors open by 7 pm. St. Mary’s is an accessible venue.