Dido

Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano and Grammy Award-winner Joyce DiDonato stars as Dido in this recording captured at Essen Philharmonie, part of a European tour that included prestigious venues such as the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Teatro Real de Madrid. The whole Dido & Aeneas team is a terrific ensemble featuring tenor Michael Spyres (Aeneas), soprano Fatma Said (Belinda), Beth Taylor (Sorceress),… and Il Pomo d’Oro, under the baton of Maxim Emelyanychev.

The circumstances of the composition of Purcell’s only opera, Dido and Æneas, are unclear. First performed in the 1680s, it received few performances in the composer’s lifetime, before disappearing until its revival at the very end of the nineteenth century. This miniature, poetic, dramatic, delightfully melodic, and containing some unforgettably beautiful vocal pieces (Dido’s “Lament”, the Witches’ songs…) has enjoyed great success ever since.

La Nuova Musica and its artistic director David Bates present Henry Purcell's most widely admired work Dido and Aeneas. With Nathum Tate's libretto based on Virgil's Aeneid Book IV, Dido and Aeneas is a miniature opera, as well as the only all-sung opera Purcell ever composed.