(CHATHAM, N.Y.) – Henry Purcell’s opera “Dido and Aeneas” will get a semi-staged concert performance at PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century on Saturday, July 19, 2014, at 8pm and Sunday, July 20 at 2pm, in a collaboration between PS21 and Concerts in the Village (CITV) of Kinderhook, N.Y. The production features a live chamber orchestra which will also perform selections from Purcell’s music for “The Fairy Queen,” an adaptation of Shakespeare’s wedding comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
A masterpiece of the Baroque age and the first significant opera in English, Dido and Aeneas is very approachable, of reasonable length (just one hour), and in a language contemporary American audiences can understand. CITV artistic director David Smith says, “The story has appeal regardless of age, with even a few Harry Potter elements — including a sorceress and witches. Understanding the relevance of every classical reference is certainly not essential to enjoying the opera. The emotional content is strong and speaks directly. The only requirement is listener curiosity.
The PS21 and CITV collaboration is a first. “I learned that Concerts in the Village was already planning to perform Dido in concert form in Kinderhook earlier this year and, knowing the well-established quality of CITV music-making, immediately approached them with the idea,” explained Judy Grunberg. “I find Dido intriguing, and involving another local organization is consistent with our mission to the community.”
Smith will direct 50-plus performers: the Broad Street Chorale, soloists Amanda Boyd (Dido), Jon Morrell (Aeneas), Kameryn Lueng (Belinda), Vicki Smith (The Second Woman), Katie Roppolo (The Sorceress), and a chamber orchestra drawing upon some of the finest instrumentalists in eastern New York. In addition to Dido and Aeneas, the program includes selections from Purcell’s music for “The Fairy Queen,” an adaptation of Shakespeare’s wedding comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
A resident of Kinderhook with training at Harvard, Yale and in France with Nadia Boulanger, David Smith is an experienced conductor, keyboard player, and scholar. Boyd and Morrel are Resident Artists of CITV. Originally from Britain but now living in Columbia County, Boyd has sung in opera, concert and recital, both here and in Europe. Morrell’s appearances have taken him to Britain, Greece, and Italy, and have been enthusiastically received by critics and audiences alike.
“I have never forgotten the powerful impression Dido and Aeneas made on me when I first experienced it, during my teenage years, in a performance at the Emma Willard School in Troy,” explained David Smith. “A half century has passed and the visual and aural images remain. Then in the 1970s, I experienced an outdoor, garden-style performance of Dido at Aspen. The images of this performance also remain. So, now there is a third Dido, this one finally of my own creating.”
Tickets for the Saturday and Sunday, July 19 and 20 performance of Dido and Aeneas are $30 general admission, $25 members and $18 students 18 years and under and can be purchased at PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century, by calling 1-800-838-3006, or at the door until the show sells out. A reception for the audience and artists will follow the Sunday performance. For other information about this or any other event at PS21, call (518) 392-6121.
PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century is a not-for-profit organization in Chatham, NY, dedicated to the performing arts and to serving a diverse community with concerts, programs and residencies by professional artists and ensembles, youth and children’s programming and cultural education opportunities for all ages.
This event is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.